Philby had been given the assignment to keep watch for any Overtakers that might've been trying to locate the hiding place of the Keepers, which they thought would lead them to Wayne. Finn had sensed that this would have been a goal of the Overtakers, so he and the other five had set off for the apartment at the top of Escher's Keep 20 minutes ago. Philby kept in touch with the other Keepers in the case that he needed backup. The Card Soldiers from Alice in Wonderland had been snooping around the firehouse and Philby was trying to lead them away. The soldiers were gaining on him faster then he'd hoped. He had made a sharp turn into Tomorrowland and quickly hid behind a statue of a rocket. As soon as the last of them had rounded the corner towards The Carousel of Progress Philby dashed toward Main St. To be cautious, he had hidden behind a trash can and texted Finn.
Philby: Had a run-in w/ the Queen of Hearts' army may need one backup to be safe.
Finn: Alright, Jess is on her way. Where should she meet you?
Philby: Outside of the bakery.
Finn: She's on her way.
Philby: Thanks!
Finn: No problem. Make sure Wayne is okay.
Philby: I've got it under control.
Jess had arrived no later than 5 minutes after Finn had last texted him. Philby said, "We have to clear the area. We can't let anyone get into the firehouse." Jess responded with, "I pretty much figured that out. What do you want me to do?" He could tell she obviously was tired and had no liking to the fact that she was out here risking her life while the others were up in the apartment. "I'm going to check the plaza. If I yell text Finn on my phone and request for more backup, at least two if it looks bad." Philby handed her his phone. "When I come back we'll go to the apartment together, just in case unwanted visitors are with Wayne." Jess cut him off. "Why can't I just go in there now?" Philby didn't quite know how to answer this. "I need you to contact the rest of the Keepers for backup if I need it. If you're checking in on Wayne and I need help, how are you supposed to get me help?" Jess gave him a distasteful look and then said in an angered tone, "Are you not letting me go up there because I'm a girl? I can have Amanda go full on wind power if I need her to." Philby was aggravated that he wasn't already out there, checking the perimeters. "We need to get going Jess." He hurried off to the other side of the street and she was still staring at him. She headed toward the firehouse steps and said, "That's what I thought."
Philby had made his way to the first corner of the plaza when he heard a faint whistle off in the distance. He came out of hiding and looked over to Jess, who just shrugged. He continued on, going on to the next corner where he hid behind a souvenir cart and slightly peeked out from behind it. Down the street, he could see a figure coming down Main Street, but he couldn't tell who it was. He signaled Jess to take cover as the figure came better into sight. Philby could see that it was holding something in his hand and was rather short. Philby came to a conclusion on which character the figure was. It was Grumpy, the loud, short-tempered, determined dwarf. Philby wasn't completely aware of Grumpy's side in the battle of good and evil, for he had helped defeat Lady Grimhilde once before in his movie. Philby was not about to stroll up to him and ask, for the consequences could be deadly. Philby turned to see Grumpy making his way toward the cart and he needed to think of a plan. He couldn't just run into the apartment and lock the door. With doing that, if Grumpy was an Overtaker, it would expose the hiding place of Wayne and ultimately the upgrades to the DHI's. He had to think fast, so he grabbed a plastic pirate's sword from the cart, stood and spun towards Grumpy. Grumpy took a step back and threw his hands in the air in surrender. Philby was surprised by how quickly Grumpy had placed down his axe and assumed he must be help. Philby lowered the sword, but did not drop it. He then said, "What is your purpose of being here?" Philby asked. Grumpy came closer to Philby and whispered, "Can we talk somewhere else?" Philby studied Grumpy for a second and repeated his question, "What is your purpose of being here?" This time Philby said it a little louder. Grumpy signaled him to bend down and then slapped him and gruffly said, "Did you really think I'd side with the freaks who took Snow White?" Philby felt like slapping the dwarf, but didn't because he had made a point. Philby had started to walk towards Jess, when he turned and said to the dwarf, "Come on. Hurry it up! We don't have all night!" The dwarf quickly caught up to Philby and Jess as they made their way towards Escher's Keep. When they reached the entrance and Philby said to Grumpy, "Follow Jess. She will lead you to the other Keepers and you can tell them how you plan to help us." He then turned to Jess. "I'll be fine from here. I'm going to check on Wayne and report back to you guys." Jess handed him his phone and they took off in different directions.
Jess and Grumpy had climbed to the top of the Keep and entered the apartment. At the sight of Grumpy the crowd quietly gasped and the two took their seats. Grumpy then started, "All of the characters of defending the parks against the Overtakers know that all of you plan on upgrading yourselves and become more powerful than ever. With us knowing there is probably some sort of way that the Overtakers could have also found this out and plan to use it against you." The Keepers nodded knowing that this was very possible. Grumpy continued, "I come here to help you as a source of an insider to let you know what the Overtakers plan to do before they do it." Amanda was confused. "How would you do that?" Grumpy turned toward her. "I know I am not the stereo typical character for the defending side. We can use that to our advantage. A few characters on our side are willing to join the Overtakers and serve as a spy for our side. Some of us will gain access to the knowledge of their schemes. We believe that Cinderella's stepsister Anastasia will come in handy through her mother, who is high up with the Overtakers. I will be able to locate Snow White to see if she has gained any information about anything that might be of use to us." Finn nodded and said, "What you and the others are doing is very noble of you. We thank you and we shall go along with your plan. You may meet us here when you have valuable information. You and the other characters acting as spies are also granted permission to use this room as a place of hiding when you need it." Finn jotted down something in a notebook and handed it to Grumpy. "This is how you find your way to this apartment. Be careful and watch your step." Grumpy nodded and accepted the paper. "You will hear from me soon." He got up and Finn motioned to Jess to escort him down the Keep. She nodded and headed for the door.
Philby had reached the stairs to the firehouse loft with no problem. He reached the top and opened the door to find an empty room and the flash drive with the work for the DHI upgrade gone. He rummaged through the room on the verge of tears and whispered, "Wayne?"