A/N: Hey all. So I didn't realize that Scorpion had such a following in France, and it's really cool that I'm getting so many readers from there.

Also, I appreciate the comment that my science hasn't been too outrageous yet, but you may speaking too soon. This chapter really starts to push it with the Scorpion style of taking liberties with the science for the sake of plot. I should mention that I'm not a member of one of the STEM professions, but that's not stopping me here and in the chapters to come.

So, keep suspending your disbelief, and enjoy!

Also, FF.N apparently has a character limit on chapter titles, so I apologize for the weird abridging in the email notifications and the pull-down menu.

Disclaimer: CBS owns Scorpion.

Chapter 9: Cupid Doesn't Discriminate, but Geniuses Do

Collins smiled. "Of course, Walter. That's the way it has to be, isn't it? You could never accept me as an ally."

Walter faltered for a moment. He had to be right. This was all Collins's doing.

Collins turned to Cabe. "Do you mind if we stand as well? He enjoys looking down at me too much."

"If he's right, I can strangle you with these cuffs," Cabe growled as they stood.

Collins nodded towards the guards that were standing against the wall on either side of the table. "I doubt they would let that happen." He returned his gaze to Walter. "You know, you really have made great strides over these past five years. But you never could shake that narcissism, could you?"

"Again with the pots and kettles," said Toby. "Not that you've made any strides at all in the past five years."

"Is that your professional assessment, Toby?" Collins snapped. "And why should I need to make any strides at all. I'm the smartest man in the world. Case in point, you geniuses fall for every trick I play on you." Reaching into his pocket, he withdrew the key to his handcuffs and unlocked them.

"You son of a bitch," said Cabe, starting to raise his free hand.

"Um, guards, remember?" Collins pointed towards the nearer guard, who was raising his gun in time with Cabe's hand. Cabe glared at him, but lowered his hand. Collins took the hand and fully handcuffed Cabe. Then he walked towards Anna, smiling at her. "Well, I can finally do this again." Lowering his head, he kissed her.

"Ew," said Happy.

Anna pulled away, looking at him. Then she kissed him back.

"Oh, that's just wrong," said Toby. "The psychopath has found a psycho-lady."

"So much for the wolf spider," said Walter.

Collins broke the kiss and looked at him. "Look who's talking. You were always the most hyper-rational, and yet you've fallen in love twice now. It happens to everyone, Walter, no matter how irrational it might seem. Believe me, I resisted that notion for a long time myself."

"Cupid doesn't discriminate," muttered Toby.

Collins looked back at Anna. "As it turned out, I had only been wasting time." Reaching out, he stroked her cheek.

Walter did his best to fight the notion of how familiar Collins's statement felt to him, and with it, the urge to look at Paige. "Why are we here? What do you want with us?"

Collins left Anna's side and continued walking around the table, approaching him. "Patience, Walter. Take a moment to let things set in." He stopped behind Ralph's chair, placing his hands on it. "How was class today, Ralphy-boy?"

Ralph glared up at him.

"Don't you talk to him," said Paige.

Collins smiled, then walked up to Drew. "Mr. Baker, you said this morning that you would like to take your son home. Tell me, if I were to let you do that, could I trust you to not do anything that would put his lovely mother in any more danger than she already is?"

Drew mirrored his son's expression. "Such as?"

"Well, communicate with anyone, for starters."

"You have my word."

"And I know that I can take you at your word," said Collins. "Unfortunately, your son is much smarter than you are, and therefore less trustworthy. He knows ways to communicate without me being able to stop it. So, I can release you, but I can't release him. Therefore, it's your choice: go home, or stay here with him."

Drew looked at Ralph. "I'll stay," he replied almost immediately.

Ralph's face softened, and a small smile appeared on it. Now Walter couldn't resist looking at Paige, and he saw that her expression had also softened.

"Very well," said Collins. "Now, if you'll all excuse me for a few minutes. Continue enjoying your dinner in the meantime." Turning, he left the room.

"At some point, we're going to smarten up to his games," Cabe muttered, sitting back down.

"Thank you," said Paige, looking at Drew.

"It's a decision I should have made a long time ago."

Walter tried to ignore the discomfort caused by the exchange and focus on the situation. He turned to Anna. "So why are we here, if it isn't about the money?"

Anna smiled. "Like he said, patience, Walter."

Florence leaned towards her. "You know, I can understand it. The allure of the superior mind, especially given how smart we already are. Even just holding the attention of such a mind flatters you, so much so that you intentionally blind yourself to his faults. But you're putting yourself in a very dangerous situation."

Walter frowned, wondering just how much of that was purely for Anna's benefit.

"Relax, Florence," said Anna. "I am in no danger from him, and neither are you."

"I'm not?"

"No. He has no intention of harming you."

"Then what are his intentions?"

"He will show you."

Toby looked at Isaac. "Are you really okay with the girl you raised being enamored with that nutjob?"

"She makes her own decisions."

"Is that so? Because Mark Collins can manipulate anyone."

"He has vision," said Anna. "If you had such vision, a man of your talents would be able to do the same."

"Oh, I've got vision. I've got a vision of going home and seeing my baby daughter again. How about you help make that vision come about instead?"

"Would you like me to bring her here for you? I promise she would be unharmed."

Toby looked at Happy, and Happy looked back. Walter could see the longing on both of their faces, but Happy shook her head. "No," said Toby. "She's safer with the sitter."

Drew glanced at Walter. "Do we still need to be standing?"

"No." There was nothing to be done until Collins returned, and they might as well eat. Who knew whether Collins would continue to be liberal with the meals going forward?

It was several minutes before Collins returned. "I apologize, everyone. The bathroom trips really were the worst part of this little experiment, weren't they?" He looked at Cabe, then at Anna. "Everything is ready, my dear."

Anna put down her fork and stood.

"Walter, Florence, if you would come with us please. If you're done eating, that is. Oh, and Cabe."

Walter stood immediately, eager to finally see what this was all about. As he did so, he inadvertently yanked on Drew's arm with the handcuffs.

"Ow." Drew quickly stood as well.

"Sorry." Walter looked at Collins and nodded towards Drew. "What about him?"

"Oh, right." Collins approached Drew. He stopped a few feet away, stroking his beard. "Well, I suppose you deserve this." He pulled out the handcuff key again. As he resumed his approach, Drew took a step forward, and Collins stopped again. "Just remember, guards with guns." He pointed at the guards. "And your son is right here."

Drew nodded, and Collins unlocked the cuff from around his wrist. Immediately, Drew went to Ralph, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"What about me?" Paige asked. She and Florence had also stood.

"You don't deserve this, but I do need her." Collins walked over and uncuffed Florence. "Walter, come here." Walter did so, knowing there was no sense in delaying this, and the cuff that had been around Drew's wrist was placed around Florence's.

Paige also turned towards Ralph, placing her cuffed hand on the back of his chair and kneeling down beside him. Walter quickly looked away from the family.

"Come," said Collins. He made for the exit again, and Walter, Florence, and Cabe followed.

"One moment," said Anna, who had also begun to follow. Moving over to Ralph's chair, she took the open handcuff still attached to Paige and locked it around Drew's wrist. "I think you will both enjoy that." Walter winced.

Collins stared at her as she returned to him. "I love you."

"I love you, too." They walked out of the room together, and Walter and Florence exchanged a glance as they followed, with Cabe right behind them.

Collins and Anna led them back down to the laboratory. There was one guard stationed at the bottom of the stairs, and another was standing beside an empty stool at a table halfway across the room. It was not one of the tables that Florence had examined earlier.

"You know, after our last adventure, I had something of an epiphany," said Collins. "See, there was something I had always known, but I didn't fully appreciate it until we saved the world from being covered in methane. We were only delaying what was eventually going to happen anyway."

"You mean global warming," said Walter. "Yeah, I thought about that, too. But it's a significantly more gradual process without all the excess methane in the atmosphere."

"Gradual, but still inevitable." He looked at Anna. "Until recently, I never worried about what would happen beyond my lifespan. I may be the smartest man in the world, but even I have to die sometime, and I think we can admit at this point that our BBI research was never going to get anywhere. So, I just didn't care what happened after I was gone."

Walter glanced back and forth between Collins and Anna. "You're thinking of producing offspring."

"Eventually," said Collins. "And, ideally, they would have a habitable world to grow up in."

"So, you want to stop global warming."

"Oh, I think we both know that ship has sailed. The damage is done now. But we can still slow the process significantly. And while we're at it, we can deal with the inevitable looming food shortages, water shortages, deforestation, you name it. All of the burden that comes from trying to sustain a population of seven billion on our tiny planet."

Now Walter understood where this was going. "And the most efficient way to do that is to reduce the population. Significantly."

Collins smiled. "And here I thought you were going soft."

"I would never support such a plan."

"Well, fortunately, I don't need your support. Just hers." He nodded towards Florence.

"Mine?" Florence asked. "Why?"

"See, natural disasters are too indiscriminate. With the methane release, everyone would have died. Earthquakes and volcanoes are the same. So are manmade weapons, like nukes. We're going to fix that."

"I don't understand."

"I do," said Walter. "You want only the people like us to survive. You've always hated normal people."

"Just imagine it, Walter: A world properly managed by people capable of understanding the consequences of their actions. Where we don't have to carry the burden of others' stupidity and constantly work to mitigate their errors. A world where everyone is like us."

Florence looked at Anna. "What about Isaac?"

"Exceptions will be made," she explained. "We only need to eliminate the strain on global resources and the atmosphere."

"I can even spare Paige and Drew," said Collins. "For Ralph's sake, of course."

"You'll spare them?" Cabe muttered. "You're not God, Collins."

"There's no weapon that could possibly be that selective," said Florence.

Collins nodded towards the guard at the bottom of the stairs, and he disappeared up them. Then he turned to Anna. "Your turn, my love."

Anna turned towards the table that Collins had led them over to. "See, our brains work differently from normal people. There is actually a significant amount of difference in the chemical activity in our brains compared to theirs."

"We know that," said Walter.

"That same chemical activity makes us more resistant to the invasion of a certain kind of synthetic drug designed to stimulate that activity."

"You want to weaponize nootropics," said Florence.

"You really are a genius," said Collins. He clapped Walter on the shoulder. "Excellent choice."

"I'm not helping you do that," said Florence.

"That part I can do on my own," said Anna. "What I need your help with is an agent for mass delivery."

"You mean a gas?" Walter asked.

"First of all, that isn't possible," said Florence. "Second, even if it were, I'm not helping you."

Collins looked at Cabe. "I'm surprised you haven't asked yet why we brought you down here."

"And here I thought you'd forgotten you invited me to this little brain-fest."

"Allow me to introduce you to your next companion in the handcuffs." Collins gestured towards the stairs, and they watched as the guard returned with a woman in a beige business suit. She was past her peak years, to be sure, but she had aged gracefully, and the short, blonde hair atop her head made her look younger, reminiscent of…

"Mom?" asked Florence, staring at the woman.

"Florence. So, this is your fault."

Walter looked back and forth between his girlfriend and her mother. The family resemblance was obvious.

Florence stared at her for another moment, then rounded on Collins. "So, if I don't help you kill billions of people, you hurt her?"

"Every relationship has give and take."

"Except that if your plan succeeds, she dies anyway."

"Not necessarily. We can choose who we spare, remember? No one in your family has to die."

"Well, I don't know who you are, but that won't motivate her," said Florence's mother. "She has never cared about anyone in her family."

Walter knew that wasn't true. She was still in touch with her brother in Palo Alto.

He watched as various emotions converged on her face, culminating with a glare at Collins.

Smiling, Collins uncuffed one of Cabe's wrists and attached the cuff to Florence's mother. Then he turned to Florence again. "You'll be joining us down here tomorrow morning. I'll give you the rest of this evening to catch up." He looked at the guards. "Take them back upstairs."

They were escorted back upstairs in silence. Walter wanted to introduce himself, but he felt that he shouldn't break the silence before Florence did. Clearly, Cabe felt the same way.

Finally, Florence did break the silence. "Where did they take you?"

"At home. They were waiting in the kitchen. They didn't set off the alarm or anything."

"Collins has tech that can do that," said Cabe. "He must have outfitted his goons with it."

Florence's mother looked down at the handcuffs. "Since it appears we're going to be stuck together for a while, I might as well know your name."

"Cabe Gallo. Your daughter is a brilliant young woman."

"You say that like it's a good thing."

Florence visibly flinched at the comment, and Walter frowned. "It is a good thing," he said.

"And who are you?"

"Walter O'Brien."

"Well, Walter O'Brien, since you seem so defensive of my daughter, I should let you know that she has never cared for anyone other than herself. She is arrogant, antisocial, and obsessed with her own intelligence, and has never shown interest in any other person, even her own family."

Florence stopped walking. "That isn't true."

"Isn't it? Your father and I watched you grow up for seventeen years. It grieved us to see you develop the way you did."

Walter spoke up. "Mrs. Tipton, I am also—"

"It's Miss Wallace. I haven't been a Mrs. for quite some time."

Right. Florence had mentioned the divorce, which she had learned about online. "Miss Wallace, I am also intellectually gifted, and I have been characterized many times over in exactly the same fashion that you just characterized Florence. We struggle to understand emotions and interact with other people, and because of that, we come across as dispassionate. But I assure you, we care."

"I should have known she would wind up with a man as troubled as she is. I'll say this, though, you certainly communicated that more clearly than she has ever communicated anything."

"Well, I, uh, learned." Walter glanced at Cabe, who was clearly surprised by the unapologetic harshness of the woman he was handcuffed to.

"So where are they keeping us?"

"In there," Cabe nodded towards the door to the prison room. The guard at the door opened it, and Cabe led Miss Wallace inside.

"Can you give us a moment?" Walter asked the guard. He nodded and shut the door, then walked a little ways further down the hall. Walter turned to Florence. "Are you okay?"

"That's a stupid question. Hug me, please."

He complied. "Just so you know, every characteristic that she just complained about, I'm glad you have."

"Because I'm like you?"

"Because you're a wonderful person. Normal people are never able to fully understand us, and the vast majority of them start thinking like your parents did. Sylvester and I both lost our relationships with our parents largely for the same reason. They never understood how to raise us, and we couldn't communicate to them what we needed, and that made us even more isolated within our own homes. But Florence, you are amazing for the very same reasons that she resents you."

She reached up and kissed him. "Thank you, Walter."

"You're welcome." He opened the door and held it for her.

Inside, Sylvester, Happy, Toby, and Agent Johnson were meeting Miss Wallace. Toby already had that expression that he got when he tried to be polite with someone and they had no interest in being polite back.

There were two people missing. "Where are Paige and Drew?" Walter asked.

"Still upstairs with Ralph," Sylvester replied. He was looking fidgety as he glanced back at Miss Wallace, clearly put off by her attitude.

"So, what are psycho and psycho-ette planning?" Toby asked.

Walter and Florence began explaining Collins's plan.


Walter woke up in the morning to find his wrists cuffed together. Florence was gone. She must have already been taken down to the lab.

Directly across from him, Paige and Drew were leaning against each other as they slept. The sight made Walter feel a little nauseous, but he forced himself to think of what Ralph would feel if he saw his parents like that. It was probably good for Ralph that his father was making more of an effort to be there for him, especially during this.

"Don't worry about it." Walter looked over at Toby, who was speaking quietly. "Nothing's going to happen between them."

"How do you know?"

"Because Paige is still who she is. They're going to make as much of an effort as they can to both be there for Ralph right now, but once this is over, things will go back to normal. They'll each have their separate time with him, just like it's been these past few months."

Walter nodded towards Drew. "He hasn't been… trying to…"

"No. At least for now, his effort is on trying to be a better father."

"For now?" Walter muttered under his breath.

Looking past Toby, he saw that Happy and Cabe were both also awake. Miss Wallace was snoring, a fact that Cabe was clearly displeased with.

"How long ago did they take Florence downstairs?"

"It was before any of us woke up."

Happy sneezed, causing Sylvester to jerk awake and look at her in horror.

"Bless you, love. You don't sound so good."

"It's just a cold, Doc. I'll be fine." She looked at Sylvester, who had begun moving as far from her as the cuffs would allow. "And so will you."

"Some coincidence that you start coming down with a cold as soon as you're cuffed to him," said Toby. "I wouldn't be surprised if Collins had his crazy little chemist give you a minor virus just to torture Sly a little more."

"You think so?" Sylvester asked.

To Walter, that seemed a little absurd, even for Collins.

"Of course, for it to already be manifesting, she would have had to give it to you the first time we were held here. He was planning this whole thing, including us coming back to rescue the others."

"He knows us," said Happy.

"Yeah, but we also know him."

Happy sneezed again, and Paige's eyes snapped open. She quickly looked at Drew, realizing her position, and pulled away from him. Looking up, she met Walter's eyes, and quickly looked back down.

"Good morning," said Toby, his voice now carrying some amusement. "Did you sleep well?"

She gave him one of her dealing-with-emotionally-immature-geniuses looks. "Hardly."

Like the previous day, they were brought to breakfast, where Ralph awaited them. Florence was not brought upstairs, and Walter wondered whether they were going to force her to work in the lab all day.

Eating with his wrists cuffed together proved to be more difficult than eating with one hand cuffed to Drew. He looked over at the family. Paige now sat in the middle, because she was now handcuffed to Drew. Walter watched as Drew helped her out with his free hand when she needed it, and she did the same for him. He quickly lost his appetite, but he knew that he needed to keep eating.

"So, how long have you been in the United States?" Miss Wallace asked Isaac. She was more polite with him than she was with any of her fellow prisoners.

"Eight years, roughly."

"Do you like it better than Russia?"

"Russia is always home to me. But, America certainly has… as you would say, perks."

"We certainly do, don't we?" Miss Wallace put down her fork and clasped her hands together. "It's such a shame what they're trying to do downstairs. They're going to ruin everything, just because they don't know how to talk to people."

Walter winced. That was not their motivation at all.

"They are going to make a better world. Anna will be much happier in it."

"You care a great deal for her."

"She is like a daughter to me."

"Well, that must be better than having a real daughter that's like that."

Walter looked up as Paige's fork clattered against her plate. She looked sharply at Miss Wallace. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Well, you can't imagine what it's like to raise a child who is too smart for her own good, and completely shuts herself off from the world because of it."

"As a matter of fact…" Paige began, her free hand gesturing towards Ralph. Then she stopped, sighed, and shook her head. "What Florence needed was people who understood her. In order to feel empathy, she needed to be shown empathy. Especially from her parents."

"Excuse me?"

"Trust her," said Toby. "She's raised five geniuses, not just one."

Walter found Miss Wallace's aghast expression gratifying. She was everything that Paige was not.

Miss Wallace started to bring her hands to her face, then realized that she couldn't without dragging Cabe's arm along. Instead, her free hand moved under the guise of replacing a few displaced strands of her bangs that had fallen across her forehead. She promptly returned her attention to her breakfast.

"What time is your first class this morning?" Isaac asked Ralph.

"In about an hour. Can I go down to the laboratory?"

"It is okay with your parents?" Isaac looked at Paige and Drew.

"Yes," Paige replied.

"Then I will ask Anna."


Anna permitted Ralph to enter the laboratory, but insisted that Walter accompany him. Walter at first found it a curious request, but guessed that he would be more capable of noticing Ralph attempting any mischief in the lab than Paige or Drew would be. Not that Ralph would do anything. Everyone was treading carefully while their loved ones were in front of the guards.

Collins was watching Florence carefully as she worked with Anna. She looked tired, and Walter guessed that that was as much the stress of the situation as it was actual physical fatigue. Occasionally, she would glance towards Collins or Anna, as if searching for any opportunity to ruin their plans. But Walter knew that, regardless of the nature of her relationship with her mother, she would never do anything to put her in danger.

"Welcome, Ralph." Anna walked over, removing her gloves, and knelt down in front of him. "Did you enjoy breakfast?"

"Yes, thank you. How is the work coming along?"

"Well enough. It is a longer process than we would like, but the greatest progress is always that way."

"Yeah, it is."

Anna reached out and touched his cheek. "You are really going to like our new world. Everyone will be like you, and no will ever fail to understand you again. There will be no more bullies, and no more idiots destroying the world and forcing us to save it. And your parents will be there with you to see it."

"That does sound appealing," said Ralph. "But I think too many people would have to die for that to happen."

"Progress always has costs. And you know that our planet cannot sustain the current population growth. The very existence of humanity in our current numbers is destroying it."

"That wouldn't be the case if we made better decisions. At least, it would take much longer."

"That's true. Try explaining that to normal people. Many before you have tried."

Ralph looked around. "Can I see some of your other experiments in here?"

"One of my guards will have to walk with you and make sure that you do not touch anything."

"That's fine."

Anna beckoned to one of the two guards and spoke to him in Russian. The guard nodded and looked down at Ralph. Then Anna returned to her work.

Walter followed as Ralph walked from table to table, examining its contents. He also looked around himself for anything they might be able to use in an escape, but he assumed that Collins had been careful to keep anything useful out of sight.

"She's trying to cure a lot of incurable diseases," Ralph commented. "Cancer, Alzheimer's, Epilepsy…"

"Even in a world of just geniuses, such diseases will still be a problem," Walter replied.

Eventually, they reached the stairs again. Ralph looked over at Anna. "Thank you," he called.

"You're welcome. Enjoy your classes."

They climbed the stairs and walked back up the hall, until they could hear a full-blown argument occurring between Paige and Miss Wallace.

"So, you condone your son's antisocial behavior, his complete rejection of friends or any attempt to relate to people his own age?"

"He has friends. And he gets to do what he enjoys doing, regardless of whether or not I understand any of it."

"And how do you expect him to succeed in life if he isn't able to properly communicate with normal people?"

"He's learning. And Florence did fine, even without any of your help."

"If you call being voted out of her own company and falling into a mess like this succeeding. Now she's being forced to help destroy the world. None of this would have happened if she had ever made an effort to learn social behavior."

Ralph looked up at Walter, and Walter returned the look. They both braced themselves before entering the room.

Paige and Miss Wallace stood on opposite sides of the battlefield, glaring at each other. Drew and Cabe were both trying to stand as far from the line of fire as they could, which was difficult considering their respective handcuff situations. The others were standing against the far wall. Toby had an expression suggesting he was about ready to ask for some popcorn, while Sylvester was covering his eyes with his free hand.

"And both of our children have found a family of people like them, whom they can relate to," said Paige, gesturing to the geniuses around them. "Together, as a team, they do greater things than you could ever have imagined."

"A team of geniuses? That isn't a family, it's a trap."

Paige raised her eyebrows, a retort eluding her for the moment.

"What do you mean?" Walter asked. He was more curious than angry about her comment.

Miss Wallace turned to him. "You've surrounded yourself with geniuses in order to feel like you belong somewhere, without having to put effort into communicating with people. You can all be antisocial together as much as you like, and you get to close yourself off from the world even more. You've given yourself an excuse to never leave your little rabbit-hole."

Walter's eyes widened, and he wondered if the phrasing of that last sentence was purely coincidental. "We communicate with normal people all the time. It's part of the job."

"Part of the job? Really? What a great way to think about it. Imagine how thrilled I am that my daughter has wound up with a man who thinks of communication as part of a job."

Walter realized he had made a mistake, and looked at Paige.

"Being part of Scorpion is helpful for them," said Paige. "Every manageable situation of limited communication that they're placed in better prepares them for situations where more communication is required. They have all gotten considerably better at communicating since this started."

Walter's mind got stuck on her mention of Scorpion. It was such a casual mention, and in the present-tense, no less.

"They're learning lessons that most children learn when they are ten years old," said Miss Wallace. She turned to Ralph. "At least it's not too late for your son, I hope." She walked over to him, pulling Cabe with her. "Listen, child. You need to do your very best to block out everything that these people are trying to teach you. Communication. Is. Everything. That is the number one lesson that you can learn in life, the key to success. You need to have friends, and you need to be friendly with your coworkers and bosses. That is how you succeed." She turned back to Paige. "Your willingness to cater to his antisocial instincts is hurting him, not helping him."

Paige glared at her. "Thank you for telling me how to raise my son, since you did such a good job with your daughter."

"Florence was never willing to listen to what I told her. She convinced herself that the way she wanted to live her life was okay. I could never make her understand how wrong she was."

"Because she wasn't like you. Just like Ralph isn't like me. And that's fine."

"Do you really want your son to be trapped in this world forever? To be stuck in his bubble of geniuses, unable to venture beyond it and bond with people in the outside world?"

"I want my son to be happy. Whatever that entails."

Ralph turned to Walter. "I have to go upstairs for class. Will you come with me?"

"Happily," Walter replied, eager to be anywhere but in this room right now.

Ralph waved to his parents.

"Enjoy class, sweetie."

"Thanks." Ralph fled the room, with Walter on his heels. "Wow, that was…"

"Yeah, my thoughts exactly," Walter replied. They climbed up to the room that Ralph was staying in.

Ralph shut the door, then turned to Walter. "I have an idea about how to stop all this."

"The fighting down there?"

"No. Collins's plot."