Mr. Whitaker raised his eyebrows, "Um, what?"

"It's a long story," Amy said as she edged closer to Richard's IV pole.

Richard nodded, not noticing her, "A very long story."

"I've got time," Whit settled back into his seat.

Amy slowly brought something out of her pocket.

"Amy, what are you-? Stop! Don't you dare-" Richard reached out to grab Amy, but was too late. The needle pierced the IV tube. Richard stared at Amy, "Why-? I- I was..." He slumped over, unconscious.

Whit sat bolt upright, "What-?"

Amy walked over to him, then tried to calm him down, "Don't worry. I just wanted him quiet. He tends to ramble, and it gets really irritating."

"But, what was-"

"It was just a sort of fast-acting anesthesia. He'll wake up in about an hour."

"But-"

"Now, about that story. Dan, I may need some backup."

Her younger brother came over, then sat down beside Whit, "Sure thing, Ames! Oh, wait. That's Evan's nickname for you," He said Evan in a high-pitched voice, "Sure thing, Amy-san."

A red flush covered her entire face, "Shut up," She turned back to Whit, "So, um... This family of ours. It goes back for nearly 500 years..."

When Amy finished explaining, with Dan cutting in every so often to add details, Whit nodded, "So, you guys are in the..."

"Madrigal branch."

He nodded again, "Okay. Then, what does Richard have to do with all of this?"

"He's an Ekat."

"Okay... And this other family, the Vespers..."

Amy looked over at Richard, "They kidnapped some of our family members. And we have to do whatever they say."

Dan interrupted, "Unless Richard's plan worked."

"Which I didn't want him to do in the first place."

Whit's confused look returned, "I believe you left out something. What was Richard's plan?"

"Well... I could tell you. If you promise not to knock me out again," Richard sat up, then winced. He carefully felt his right shoulder, "Yeah... it's broken."

Amy jumped, then looked sheepishly over at him, "Sorry. But, about the plan? You don't have to tell it. I can show him."

Now it was Richard's turn to look befuddled, "Show him...?"

She nodded, "Yep," Amy-san pulled a laptop/tablet out of her jacket. She turned it on, tapped on the screen a few times, then turned it around for him to see, "I got the whole thing, right here."

He looked at it for a few seconds, then said, incredulously, "You hid cameras on me?"

Amy smirked, "You Ekats aren't the only brilliant ones in the family. And..." She tapped on it a couple more times, "I even got footage of you in Odyssey. You know, when you ran into Casper?"

Richard lay back down and rolled his eyes, "You can show him. Just... make sure this doesn't fall into the police's hands. It could mess up my entire scheme."

Amy nodded, then sat down between Whit and Dan. She positioned the display so they could all see it, "Okay, here we go."