Hello again!

Okay when I attempted to do a one-shot I didn't anticipate that it'd turn into this mammoth of a story. If science fiction-y stuff isn't your thing then this chapter will be a little slow, but it has a lot of character building stuff within it which you'll want to know as a background. I refuse to make this more than three chapters long. Just in case you missed it- this is definitely AU. It acknowledges that there was once a place called Ouran, which housed a host club- but similarities end there.

This is entirely a futurefic.

And I am being entirely too ambitious!

Full Summary: A strange and troubled scientist creates the ultimate super-weapon, completely by accident. What follows is a race between Japan and America to find his invention before it ends up in the hands of someone with...less scruples than the norm. It ends up in the possession of joint entrepeneurs, the Hitachiin brothers, which isn't really that much better. Nakano, Kyoya and Haruhi, scientists in their employment are forced to analyze these beings whilst battling their morality, their ethics and th efact that it's frustratingly easy to fall for these beings.

Primarily Honey/OC, but with some Kyoya/Melinda (:P) and Tamaki/Haruhi thrown in too.

I disclaim this show/manga- but the Oc characters (Melinda, Nakani, Pug-face etc.) are mine.

~Mari

December 12th, 2110

New Tokyo, Japan

The Tower, National Historic Library

I came to the conclusion a long time ago that I have indeed gone mad, as most would say of me. I do not disagree. Genius requires a certain degree of madness, although I've come to understand that while most accept genius when it benefits them, their blind hypocrisy and unwillingness to accept progress will always separate the true pioneers from the masses. My own peers have, of course, deserted me. I fear it's only a matter of time before agents are breaking down my door, demanding of me my life's work. My creations.

Androids, some call them. Robots. How simple their minds are, it is not so difficult to create a robotic helper and program it to function. What I have created is life, sentient beings with the ability to think, and feel and live like a human being. Laboratory grown children cloned from the D.N.A of the great geniuses of the 20th century. They are intelligent, athletic, musical, talented- all of them extraordinarily beautiful.

These are my children, more so than the child I fathered years ago with that woman.

I will never sacrifice them. I have given up everything for them, my family, my daughter, my life. Though I find that as time goes on I begin to see such things as less and less relevant. Eventually, like all great inventors, my genius will be recognized. True, perhaps not until I am long dead, but by then I'll have had the last laugh and they'll be unable to touch me.

It does not escape me that I need a safe place to hide them; that I require at least some way to guarantee their safety in the event of my own termination, which doubtless will come far sooner than even I expect. At this point entrusting them to my wife seems superfluous, as she will doubtless attempt either to destroy them, or surrender them to the fools who govern our planet.

So I have hidden them. In a place I have so sheltered from the world, I dare anybody to find them.

I dare you.

Taken from the journal of Charles Knight

Sometimes Nakano wished she had the same options other people had. Like quitting her job- oh how she'd love that. Just up and leave all the stress and trauma of the lab and be something relatively normal. Like, a doctor perhaps. Or an environmental researcher- there was money there these days. Her mother was forever going on about the new breakthroughs they'd made concerning nuclear radiation in some form or other and how amazing it was to finally be able to afford that beach house.

But the fact remained that she was a scientist- fiercely devoted to her research. And that was something which was unlikely to ever change.

"What was it you wanted my help with?" She asked the tall, silent figure beside her, never taking her eyes off the petri dish in front of her. Kyoya was a cold, unsociable bastard at the best of times, but he was good at his job, and utterly professional. That was all she'd ever required.

"I've been trying to negotiate with the powers that be, but it seems they won't be moved. They insist that you look at the specimens they found yesterday."

"The ones in the Tower?" She asked, eyebrows scrunching, loafer clad feet shuffling. "What for? I'm not qualified to examine pots or tins or whatever the hell it is they found there. Tell them I'm busy." She grunted.

Historians. Lazy bastards, all of them, when they weren't giving some dry as paper lecture that even other Historians found boring. She'd like to see them actually investigate and excavate the things they read about in their dark rooms, rather than sitting on their asses and growing steadily more anemic whilst leaving the work to people like her.

People so overloaded with work, and extra work, and paper work- God how she despised it- there simply wasn't enough time to be handling anybody else's messes.

Yet here they were.

"We should be so lucky. No, what they found is apparently far more durable than a few pots." Kyoya said coolly. "Far more… interesting. Busy schedule or not, I'd advise you to come with me."

Nakano sighed and looked at the dish, putting aside the microscope she was examining it through and snapping off her rubber gloves. No matter how stupid or half-witted she may consider her government to be, they still paid her bills, it was only intelligent to make nice with them.

Not that she had to like it. When she came home she'd have to re-read the log-books, record all the new data, ensure the equipment was safely put away, construct a whole new theory as to why those embryonic cells were responding the way they did… God, it was exhausting just thinking about it. She wouldn't get to bed until well past midnight. Again.

She looked up, caught the eye of the man tending her insects. He was handsome, very handsome actually. Blue eyes, black hair, tough guy with a soul persona… what wasn't to like? She sighed, bemoaning the loss of yet another date and the sad state of her now almost non-existent social life.

I always preferred blonds anyway, she consoled herself.

"Lead the way, oh great and noble leader." She sighed putting away her equipment efficiently then quickly washed her hands, and tried not to think about the fact she was leaving her lab in the somewhat sweaty hands of the intern.

God, the boy was barely past puberty. She didn't exactly have the same great, unshakeable faith in him as she did say one of her other lab assistants, and for good reason. The newest person in her crew had been with them for a year, this boy had about two solid months of actual experience under his belt.

Yes, she was leaving six months of delicate lab work in his adolescent hands. Blind trust, thy name is Nakano.

"As you wish," Kyoya said blandly, and scribbled something quickly on his clipboard before moving to the door. "Follow me." He said unnecessarily. Nakano followed, somewhat amused. The man was a pillar of ice. Nothing she'd said or done had ever thawed him.

Nothing.

Haruhi had just as little luck figuring the guy out, although with that said he tended to make her life hell in less vindictive ways than he did anybody else, so perhaps…

No. No, of course not. Kyoya be romantically interested in anybody? That was a notion to alien to even comprehend, particularly when he and Haruhi were at opposite ends of the spectrum concerning their values and philosophies. In fact, perhaps what he felt for the girl was more along the lines of brotherly affection, Nakano mused. Somehow she didn't think there was much there to speculate about- though it was always fun to try!

And speaking of her wayward partner...

"Where's our little cross-dresser today?" She asked, fondly remembering finding the tracksuit clad waif she'd found sniffing around her lab. 'Just looking around,' she remembered Haruhi saying. Nakano would've called the police on the random boy, but that random boy had been quite a headstrong girl. And that girl in turn had been quite a capable scientist in her own right, despite being a year younger and so green, Nakano had expected her to photosynthesize. "I could've sworn she was here-"

"She was paged to the office a little over an hour ago." He said. "They're waiting for us, before we're debriefed."

She looked at him curiously.

"And do you know what's going on?"

He scoffed. "That would imply someone running this place actually being organized. Or having the foresight to notify the experts they require- before disaster strikes that is- that they've found a new kind of super weapon."

Nakano blinked. Then stopped.

"Excuse me, I think I heard you incorrectly." She rasped, looking as though someone had stolen everything she held dear, tore it apart and set it alight.

"No." Kyoya said grimly. "The mindless, cow-eyed expression on your face says your ears still function adequately. Apparently this new weapon- whatever it is- is powerful enough that it'll replace nuclear as the weapon of choice in this ridiculous war."

Nakano paled. "Sweet mother of God."

There was a fine line between progression and stupidity, one which was walked by all manner of idiots who did not seem to understand that there was a balance to be found when moving forward. You needed to weigh the pros and cons, research the risks you were taking and decide whether or not what you were doing would affect the world or the environment around you for worse as opposed to better.

Unfortunately, it was somehow idiots who always found a way into the most powerful positions on the planet. Take their current president for example. The mindless lump of a man (why were politicians never attractive?) who- under no provocation at all- had declared war against America as soon as he was in office. This was done on the grounds of a fabricated slight that now, two years and three Chernobyl's later, nobody could even remember.

And those who did remember shuddered in disgust to think that for one minute they had believed that lying, traitorous, murdering son of a bi-

But she digressed.

The room she was in was an obvious and welcome change from the dark , muted colors of her lab. Extravagance was everywhere, although thankfully taste had not been overshadowed by grandeur. Blue and white was the theme, and it was everywhere. A vase on a stand beside the window, pure white walls, pale blue curtains which allowed some of the late afternoon sunlight to slip through.

It was quite beautiful. And the centerpiece was the two men clad in white behind a large wooden desk and seated on a black leather swivel chair. Both beautiful, both seemingly as statuesque in nature as in appearance.

At the moment, she was trying her best to act like a mature, rational adult and not fly at the po-faced man in front of her and choke him to death or some other such thing. Because while very satisfying, she could see it would get her absolutely nowhere, and she was already more than a little self-conscious under the open scrutiny of Hikaru and Kaoru, the two people in charge of the entire facility. The two people she needed- needed- to be on good terms with. God help her if they knew she was calling them by their given names, even in her head.

They were both something of an enigma, their family of course had always been influential within Japan and as such they'd enjoyed the perks of the rich and famous. Among those perks being the right to spend ridiculous amounts of money on frivolity and think nothing of it. The base in which Nakano was studying was one such project, and quite frankly she'd been surprised to have been hired.

They seemed to have chosen their scientists all at random, but Nakano was wary of regarding them as the shallow, perhaps too mischievous and largely 'in-it-for-the-fun' bachelors they attempted to portray themselves as, the entire thing was much too well thought out. To date, they were the only people she knew who could actually follow a conversation with her without getting lost in her tendency to use large words when she was excited.

It got so she'd just taken to asking her friends and colleagues to carry dictionaries around with them.

Apart from being rich and famous, they were also widely desired. No surprise really, given that they had looks and charm in spades and could charm the pants off a brick wall if they so desired. However they didn't take to running around the club scene with all the other 'playboys' for some reason or other. There were rumors that they never dated unless the girl in question could tell them apart.

And they looked so much alike that currently most deemed it impossible (privately, Nakano agreed though she'd still punch out anyone who said otherwise).

So they simply never dated.

Instead they threw themselves into separating themselves from their family's long association to the fashion industry by investing in more educational pursuits, choosing to start with The Institute. The building in which Nakano was currently residing. They'd built the place right after buying the rights to most of Japan's land mass and, with the exception of the president, pretty much ruled the entire country. Along with a select few families- from which she had long suspected Kyoya had come from. But she couldn't prove anything.

And so the rich got richer.

That's what happens when a country goes bankrupt.

They were known for their frivolity, their fickleness, their shameless disregard for the rest of humanity and the boredom they were constantly segued with. Nakano was understandably uncomfortable that they were the ones who had discovered this alleged 'super weapon'. Not that they were bad people.

Their morals just allowed for a bit more leeway than most people's.

"Stop talking." One of them said authoritatively and instantly the po-faced man clammed up. Eyes darting nervously to them, wondering if he'd made a mistake. The twins both regarded him. One with bored dismissal, the other distant amusement.

Which was which? She didn't have a fucking clue.

"You may sit down," the other sniggered, waving to a chair. Yes, definite amusement. She sighed, they were vicious sadists with absolutely no patience for tedious things. Such as 'manners'.

It was kind of admirable.

"I'm curious Ms. Fukushima," the seemingly calmer one leaned forward on the massive mahogany desk he sat behind and rested his chin on his fists. "What do you expect to find? You don't seem entirely thrilled by the prospect of being a part of what is, perhaps, the greatest scientific discovery of our time."

"With all due respect," She said tightly. "Neither would any other scientist asked to 'okay' a weapon of mass destruction which will later be unleashed on countless innocent citizens for the sake of a war which boils down to a 'mine is bigger than yours' pissing contest."

Don't shout at the boss. It would not be wise.

"But it's much more than that!" The pudgy man broke his vow of silence suddenly. "To quote the two..er..gentlemen here," his eyes flicked nervously to the twins. "This is truly the greatest scientific discovery of the age and you're willing to let that slip through our fingers for something as trivial as… as a few personal qualms?"

"I hardly think ethics are trivial." Nakano shot back hotly. "What happened to these people was wrong in the first place, and by using them in such a way we're furthering an injustice which should have been punished long ago. Of course I disagree!"

"This is not ethics." He protested. "This is science. And this is why women should never have been allowed to set foot in a lab. Your maternal instincts are far too unreliable."

The silence following that statement was forebodingly loud. Every other man in the room winced and wondered how much would be left of him by the time the meeting was over.

"Excuse me?" Haruhi said dangerously from where she'd been quietly sitting for most of the meeting, in a comfortable armchair positioned comfortably adjacent to the twins' desk. For the whole discussion she'd been largely an observer, and as her senior, Nakano tended to handle things in such meetings more often than not. However, she could not simply keep quiet in the face of such brazen ignorance.

The twins watched the proceedings with detached interest, not lifting a finger to deter the argument from escalating any further.

Nakano glanced sharply at the one sitting in the large leather armchair. He'd muttered something suspiciously like 'I wish I had popcorn'.

"What has my sex got to do with my ability to navigate a lab?" Haruhi demanded. "And how does that enter into this argument at all? What we are discussing is whether or not to reveal this discovery to the military, not whether women should be allowed to continue lab work."

"Of course we should reveal it. It's our patriotic duty!" The man squeaked, looking to Kyoya for affirmation that the man pointedly did not give. He floundered for a moment. "Besides, this could- this will make us famous." He gushed, and kept talking when it would have been wiser to take note of the fact that Nakano had gotten ominously quiet all of a sudden. "We'll be huge. International! This will make us more famous than Einstein dammit!"

Nakano pursed her lips, resisting the urge to throw a vase across the room simply to hear the satisfying crash as the precious china crumbled to pieces before her eyes and littered the expensive white carpet.

"If you want to be famous then walk the fuck out of my lab, pick up a fucking microphone and a guitar and go pollute cyberspace somewhere." He took a step back. Her eyes were lit, betraying the depth of her anger. "If you want to be a scientist, however, then sit down and make your fucking case like a grown man. Rest assured, you do not impress me at the moment and I see no reason to enter into a discussion with you if you don't have an actual point to make."

He sat down.

"Thank you." She said, already tired. Then stood up and walked to the desk. "I apologize for the scene," she said through gritted teeth. "But you've seen more than enough to gather that I'm inherently against turning these people into killing machines. It is simply not possible anyway. I'm a scientist, not a messiah, not a magician, not a miracle worker."

"But these are not people." The louder twin gave her a cat-like smirk. "These are clones. They do not possess any knowledge of themselves or the world around them and are utterly incapable of emotional response to it if they did."

"With all due respect sir, we don't know that yet." Haruhi cut in. "They could very well be totally aware of their surroundings, and depending on whether or not they've been automated they could also very well be capable of emotion. It is a common misconception, but as a clone they have been required to go through the whole process of growing up. Surrogate mother and all. They're human, until proven otherwise."

"No they're not!" The small man protested, once again forgetting he was supposed to be keeping his trap shut, under threat of Nakano doing terrible things to his pug face wile he slept. She was the head scientist. She had every key to every door in this dump. "They're no better than robots. They do not feel or think or understand anything that's-"

"And have you come to this conclusion after extensive research, spending time with the subjects in question and repeated trial and error?" Nakano interrupted. "If not then I do not want to hear your voice again, you ignorant half-wit."

"Call yourself a scientist." Haruhi shook her head, staring at the man incredulously and wondering how exactly it could come about that idiots like himself could actually have a PHD to their names.

Kyoya merely stared at the man as though he were merely an annoying bug on the windshield of his life. One that could be squashed easily with a fly swatter or a pair of heavy duty army shoes. Not liking the glint in the bespectacled man's eyes, the pug-faced man wisely shut up.

"I have calculated the monetary benefit of revealing this weapon," Kyoya finally added his two cents, looking speculatively at his clipboard. Haruhi and Nakano's faces faulted.

Of course he'd bring up money.

"While it is not an insignificant amount, I believe that simply being in possession of such a weapon would be enough to ensure yourselves status as the most powerful men in the world. There's no particular reason to rush into anything with anyone."

The twins looks at each other, then grinned as one. "Nice." They said in unison.

Tired and already feeling a familiar ache growing between her ears, Nakano addressed her superiors, deciding that she really didn't need another headache today. How she hated dealing with stupid people.

"What would you have had in mind if I did examine your 'discoveries'?"

"You don't have much to worry about…" One said, not looking too ruffled by the discussion at all.

"Considering how we don't like sharing."

"So the government?"

"They can go to hell." This was said calmly, as though they weren't breaking so many laws just thinking about this. Pug-face looked like he'd give himself an aneurism, Nakano noted. She wondered if he wanted help. "This is our toy. Well, unless they offer us something better." He said flippantly, shrugging and brushing invisible lint from his sleeves.

"Then we might consider it." The loud one sat himself on his brother's lap, interlacing their fingers as though it were the most natural thing in the world. Pug-faced man's eyes bulged. The others remained unfazed.

Four years tended to desensitize you somewhat.

"But it's unlikely." They finished in unison.

"Do I have free reign? And access to everything?" Nakano challenged.

"Within reason." They both nodded. She stared at them for a long moment.

"Fine." She finally snapped. "Kyoya, call a team to meet us in the autopsy room, in five minutes. Bring any and every article book or video you can find regarding the cloning process." He raised his brows expressively.

"Yes, I do mean all of them." She reiterated. "Haruhi, let's go find these so called 'super weapons'." She pinched the bridge of her nose and walked out of the room with a world weary sigh.

Well, there went her dinner plans. Tall dark and sinfully hot would have to wait. Though she was kidding herself if she didn't think he had a backup plan.

Guys who looked like that often did.

In the back of her mind, she supposed she had not really fully understood that what she would be working with were beings who, regardless of their actual humanity, looked human. So the fact that they were lying in glass boxes and suspended in some jelly-like cushioning substance had a pretty large impact.

"Lay them vertical on the tables, then leave." She instructed the crew around her. "I'd like to spend some time examining them with my colleagues."

It was done with the usual unnecessary hustle and bustle people used to linger in a room long after a job was completed. Nakano couldn't even find it within her to snap at them. She'd be curious too. In her twenty-three years, she'd never seen anything quite like it.

"How long do you think they've been like that?" Haruhi asked, her voice conveying the quiet awe se felt.

"Ten years." Kyoya whispered beside them. "They were created by a scientist named Charles Knight in an attempt to create a more stable cloning process. Which he eventually managed, but not before he stumbled upon this."

Nakano rose a hand to get him to stop for a moment. It was obvious every ear in the room was hanging on his every word. "What are you waiting for?" She glared, using her best 'mother' voice. "Move!"

About two people actually jumped and the rest of her thirty man strong crew filed quickly through the door in a flurry of white lab-coats. Then the room was quiet apart from the steady hum of the machines and the regular beep of the four heart monitors in the room. Kyoya moved to the first glass box- Nakano shuddered, she couldn't erase the image of a coffin she got from the things- and barely grazed it with the tips of its fingers.

Within, a young girl with a shock of bright white hair lay as if sleeping. "This is amazing." He said. "I never thought I'd ever see anything like it. I assumed when I found the journal… but this is truly amazing."

"Journal?" Nakano asked, bemused. "Wait a minute, let's rewind a bit. Start from the beginning, right to the end, and don't leave anything out."

Haruhi pushed two chairs together, and hopped onto one of the examining tables. Nakano didn't berate her. Priorities; she had them. Instead she took the chair offered and waited for the somber, intelligent man to continue. He tore his eyes away from the girl and sat down beside her in one fluid motion.

"I've told you most of it." He said, brow furrowed. "Charles Knight was a scientist in the early 22nd Century made famous for his breakthrough in stem cell research. At the time the only way to clone artificially- as in not occurring naturally in twins- was to use somatic cell nuclear transfer. Removing the D.N.A from a human embryo and introducing the D.N.A from a skin cell by combining the two. Very few of these survived however, and the ones that did grew into blastocysts. Tiny cell clusters from which stem cells were extracted." He took a breath.

"Wait a minute." Haruhi interrupted. "This was done during the 21st Century as well. From what I recall they didn't quite succeed. In fact most of their alleged 'success' was found to be, well, a lie."

"True." Kyoya agreed. "But they didn't have the equipment Charles had by the 22nd Century and therefore he had a significant advantage over his predecessors. He had robotic technologies at his fingertips by then as well, and his training as first a Neurologist, then brain surgeon prepared him for the delicate process of inserting automaton technology into otherwise human D.N.A.

"He got lucky the first time, and asked four different women to be a surrogate for these four embryos. He chose from the most influential families at that time. The Suous, the Redmonds, the Takashis and the Haninozukas."

"Wait," Nakano frowned. "I seem to remember something about him being married, didn't he have daughter too?"

Kyoya looked at her. "Yes. And?"

She stared. Would it be undignified to get sick right then?

"So… did he use his own D.N.A?" Haruhi pressed, biting her bottom lip hard. That seemed to throw him, he looked at the battered red journal in his hands, fingers clenching and unclenching around it.

"I… I don't know. There's so much that's completely indecipherable." He looked at the book thoughtfully. "I could try to-"

"It's okay Kyoya. Leave it." Nanako said, troubled by the information she'd just been tossed with. God, it was like school all over again. "We'll find out soon enough, we'll test their blood and look for genetic similarities. Then we'll begin analysis of their overall health." She frowned, thinking. "Then we'll try and see if we can wake them up, shall we?"

Guess who wasn't getting any sleep for the next week or so.

The world around him was moving slowly… and he heard voices. They were difficult to decipher, reaching him distortedly, as though he were under water. His arms wouldn't move, he seemed to be somehow paralyzed.

…He remembered now. Father had not wanted them to be damaged if they were to be someday released from their hiding place. His family must be with him… they would not simply take one, would they? No, impossible.

Light was filtering from someplace, painting his eyelids red and orange, making it harder to remain asleep. His jaw tensed… no use, nothing moved, not yet.

"…See if we can wake them up shall we?" A voice was saying, tiredly. High but somehow husky, obviously female. Somewhere to his left…?

The shadow of the voice moved over his 'bed' and warm hands touched the glass. A surge of electricity travelled through his body, not quite painful but not pleasant either. Something was beeping rapidly and more voices were raised, exclaiming in alarm. His eyes opened.

Someone screamed.