The phone rang, and Eve was tempted to ignore it. This always happened—as soon as she and Flynn got 10 minutes alone, some catastrophe came up that required their immediate attention. They'd just subverted another apocalypse, for Pete's sake. Couldn't they get a break?

"Your phone is ringing," Flynn pointed out unhelpfully.

"I hear that."

"Aren't you going to answer it?"

"I'm still thinking."

"What if it's important?"

"I'm sure it is." She sighed and reached for the phone, answering without checking the Caller ID. "What is it now?" she sighed. "Something from Ancient Egypt? We haven't done Ancient Egypt in a while."

"Could be," Stone answered. "We haven't gotten it narrowed down yet."

Eve closed her eyes, breathing slowly through her nose. "Are you sure you can't handle this one on your own?"

"Maybe, but I thought you might want to check it out with us."

"Why's that?"

"It's the Curator."

Eve's eyes flew open to find Flynn staring intently at her. "The Curator?" she repeated for his benefit.

"They found the Curator?" Flynn asked.

"The Clippings Book just sent us an invitation to her auction tonight," Stone said.

"Okay. We'll be right there." Eve hung up, resisting the urge to sigh. "Time to go, honey. The kids need us."

"They found the Curator?" Flynn repeated.

"The Curator is hosting an auction tonight, and we're invited curtesy of the Clippings Book."

Flynn threw on his jacket, practically bouncing with excitement. "Well that's just—how many invitations did it send? Can we all go?"

"I don't think we should let Stone go alone," Eve said. "If the Curator is as mysterious as he says, it'd be a good idea for him to have backup."

Five minutes later they were hurrying through the door to the annex, their peaceful evening alone already forgotten. Stone and Cassie stood in front of the Clippings Book, studying it and muttering to each other. Stone looked up when door opened, but Cassie just kept reading. "Give me the details, Stone," Eve said, draping her jacket over the chair at Flynn's desk.

He gave her a blank stare. "Uh... Okay, there's a... this... magic book? And an invitation showed up—"

"That's not Jake," Cassie said, leaning over the desk next to Eve.

Eve frowned. It certainly looked like Stone, though his hair was styled differently than normal and he wasn't wearing his customary plaid-scarf-and-beanie combo.

"I'm Alex," the other said awkwardly, holding out his hand. "Jake's brother."

"Jake's brother." Eve shook his hand, attempting to study him without making it obvious that that's what she was doing. "That's right, I remember him saying that you were all going to get together for Christmas. We can drop you off before we go to the auction."

"Nope," Stone said, crossing through the room toward the staircase, his arms full of paper. "Alex is coming too. So's my other brother. He's meeting us at the Fort."

"Uh—hold on," Eve said. She jogged after him, though he didn't slow down to wait for her.

"I gotta get these to Jones," he said. "He's gonna forge a few more invitations for the rest of us."

"Stone, wait."

"I don't know if we can all get in with the one or not, but we thought it'd be best if we had a few extras just in case."

"Jake," Eve said. She'd followed him up the stairs by now, where he finally turned to look at her. "What do you mean your brothers are coming?"

"Not sure how many other ways I can say that," Stone said.

"You've already broken protocol by bringing Alex here," Eve pointed out. "Now you want to bring him on a mission? That's not how we do things. It's going to be hard enough to take down the Curator without having to worry about new blood on the team."

Stone squared his shoulders to face her. She liked that about him—he accepted her authority, but he never hesitated to challenge her if he had something to say. Normally, she relied on his ability to stay level-headed, to question her (and everyone else) in order to make the best plan. But now... now he was letting his attachment to his family get in the way, and that was never a good idea on a mission.

"Look," he said, in the measured, even voice he used when he was about to say something he knew she wouldn't like. "Alex was around when we took down Flores. He saw some of the items in Flores's container. He helped us get them back."

"I understand that," Eve said. "But that doesn't mean—"

"And he used to work for the DEA," Stone went on. "He's gone undercover before, so he understands how things like this work. I really think he can help us on this one."

Eve felt her brows furrow. "The DEA? Alex Stone?"

"He goes by Walker."

"Alex—Alex Walker?" Eve said, barely stopping herself from leaning over the bannister to get another look. "That's Alex Walker? Alex Walker is your brother?"

"Yes... I take it you've heard of him?"

Yes, she'd heard of him. During her days with NATO, the name "Alex Walker" was constantly showing up on reports and mission files. Supposedly, he was one of the best undercover agents in the organization, though she'd never worked with him personally. He was a legend in international law enforcement, and now he was here in her Library, offering to go on a mission against one of the most mysterious enemies they'd ever come across.

Maybe it wouldn't be such a bad idea to have him on board after all.

"You said your other brother was meeting us there?" Eve said.

Stone turned away, knowing he'd won. "Yeah. Eliot's got a background in retrieval, so that'll help us out too."

"What kind of background?"

"Well... I don't have a lot of details, but I know he uses his skills to help people. Like what we do."

There was a hesitation in his voice that only made her worries increase. But this was Stone she was talking to. He'd dealt with his family before, and he'd remained level-headed enough to solve the problem then. He could do so again, right? Especially if one of his brothers was Alex Walker. How bad could the other one be?

"Alright," Eve said, trying to banish the feeling of dread creeping through her. "On a trial basis only. If either of them does anything to compromise the mission, I'm sending them back. No arguments."

"Agreed." Stone gave her a lopsided smile and hefted his papers. "I gotta get these to Jones. Jenkins has some kind of powered-up printing press, so it shouldn't take too long."

That also didn't fill her with confidence. Any time Stone and Jones managed to get Jenkins on board with one of their plans, it usually meant more chaos for her. Whenever the three of them teamed up, she tried to be as far away as possible, so she made her way back downstairs to find Flynn sitting on his desk, leaning uncomfortably close to Alex's face and squinting.

"Flynn," Eve barked.

He jumped. "I'm just looking," he said, leaning back slightly. Alex hadn't moved, though he looked like he wanted to say something.

"Flynn, it's not polite to stare."

"But—look at him!" Flynn crossed his legs on top of the desk, gesturing so wildly that he almost hit Alex's arm. "Don't you think it's creepy? For two people to look so much like each other—"

"Hey," Alex said. "I was trying to be polite because Jake said you're his boss, but I'm not gonna stand here and—"

"Be nice, Flynn," Eve sighed. "This is Alex Walker. He's a legend in the DEA."

"The diplôme d'études approfondies?" Flynn repeated blankly.

"No, the—"

"That's not even a doctorate," Flynn frowned.

"Flynn. The Drug Enforcement Agency."

"You can't have a degree in drug enforcement," Flynn argued.

Aware that she'd lost him, Eve rolled her eyes and turned her attention to Alex. "Sorry about him. He means well, but he's not great with new people."

Alex hitched one shoulder. "Guess that's to be expected. You must be Baird. Jake told me a little about you."

"He didn't tell us anything about you," Eve said, crossing her arms.

"But you know I was DEA."

"I know your name," Eve explained. "I worked with NATO before... this."

"Ah," Alex said. He gave her a quick, appraising glance, but kept his findings to himself.

She did the same. She'd heard things about him over the years, things that she'd assumed were mostly exaggeration. The ways people said he got out of inescapable situations, the ways he supposedly tricked his target into giving themselves up—there was no way even half of them were true. At least, that's what she thought before she met Flynn. But Flynn was that clever, and so were the other Librarians. So maybe Alex Walker was too?

"This team doesn't run like the DEA," Eve said, pushing the warning through her voice.

Alex chuckled. "Thank God for that. Not sure I'd be much help to you if it did."

That took her back, but it reassured her too. At least she wouldn't have to worry about him going too "by the book".

But would he follow her authority?

There was no way to know for sure, not before the actual mission. She'd just have to trust that Stone could keep him in line. Along with his other brother. While they attempted to gather intelligence on/take down a mysterious enemy with an unknown supply of magical items.

Typical day at the office.

By the time Stone and Jones returned with the forged invitations, Eve was ready to get to work. Cassie's stream of questions and Flynn's continued scrutiny of Alex were getting on her nerves (mostly because it seemed to be getting on Alex's nerves, and he wasn't good at hiding his irritation), and the delay was making her anxious. When she saw the two Librarians descending the staircase, she blurted, "Finally," and pushed between Flynn and Cassie to take one of the invitations from them.

"Jenkins is still cleaning up," Stone said, distributing the rest of the invitations. "He said he's sorry he can't join us."

"I'm sure," Eve said in a flat voice. "Okay, what's the plan?"

Stone exchanged a look with his brother. "We go in, we find the Curator, we get as much info as we can."

A little thin as plans went, but more than what they sometimes had to go on. "Alright then," Eve said. "Let's not waste any more time. Set the door and let's go."

"Hang on," Jones interrupted. He swept a curious look over Alex, his eyes wide. "Aren't we going to talk about the doppelganger in the room?"

"Not a doppelganger," Stone sighed. "Just a brother."

"Who looks just like you."

"Right?" Flynn exclaimed. "It's creepy, right?"

Cassandra frowned. "Hey, don't call them creepy. It's just a case of the cells splitting early on in embryonic growth to create two individuals with identical DNA. The odds are—"

"We don't have to get into the math," Eve interrupted. "Jones, this is Alex, don't call him a doppelganger. Alex, this is Jones. He grows on you."

"Like a fungus," Stone muttered.

"Alright, alright," Eve said. "Come on. Door."

Flynn complied with her request, setting the coordinates on the back door and leading the way through. Stone and his brother went next, followed by Cassie and Ezekiel, and finally Eve. She remembered to grab her jacket at the last minute and pulled it on as she went through the door, already feeling the chill of December in Oklahoma.

A flash of light surrounded them and faded as Flynn closed the door behind them. "Fort Washita," he announced. "With... half and hour to spare before the auction."

"Which is where?" Eve asked. She'd been to plenty of forts in her career, but this one was not what she expected. A good portion of it was in ruins, with only a few buildings still whole and usable. None of them seemed big enough to host a garden party, let alone an auction.

"Maybe it's—" Cassie started, but the sound of a cocking gun cut her off.

"Hands up," ordered a deep voice behind them. "Turn around slowly."

Eve obeyed stiffly, shooting a glance at Flynn. "We're here for the auction," she said.

"We have invitations," Jones added.

She turned to see three men armed with rifles, each one trained on her group. The mention of the invitations didn't seem to have any effect on the men. Instead, the one in the middle hefted his gun and grunted, "You're on private property. You all need to leave immediately."

Interesting... he said "private", not "military". The guns weren't current military models, and the men weren't wearing any kind of uniform she recognized., though they did have helmets that looked vaguely familiar. Were they with the Curator?

Did it matter? They were armed and the Librarians were not.

Eve opened her mouth to make another attempt at reasoning with them, but Stone started laughing. It was quiet, no more than a soft chuckle, but everyone turned to look at him. Everyone but Alex, who was grinning as well.

"What?" Eve asked, unsettled.

Stone lowered his hands a fraction, looking over his shoulder to address the group. "Guys, meet my brother Eliot."