Chapter 4

~~~~Underground Sanctuary~~~~

"No, no, no!"

"Well do you have any better ideas?"

"I actually worked there for six months, believe me, I know."

"They probably changed some protocols once they realized you were stealing from them!"

"To help you! Be a bit more grateful, who do you think got you those rare and precious metals to create your little teleporting jacket?"

"Magnus, cause she did!"

"And where do you think she got them from? Please, I practically built this place before you were even born, I just didn't know about it."

Helen could hear the two children arguing from the elevator.

She stood at the door watching as Henry argued with the eight year old Nikola, almost heatedly.

Nikola sat on a high stool with his head in his hands, while Henry ranted and raved, pacing back and forth with his arms flailing all over the place. She couldn't help but smirk a little. They'd only been at this about an hour and they looked ready to kill each other.

"This is getting us nowhere Heinrich," grumbled Nikola in his prepubescent voice.

"It's Henry! Vlad! Henry! Not Heinrich, not Wonder Monkey, HENRY!"

"Wonder monkey?"

"I, eh, er...shut up!"

"Boys!" Helen decided this had gone on long enough.

"Helen, he's trying to hack into SCIU, with a level three round-a-bout and it won't work!"

"It will work, I've done it before!"

"Maybe if you were hacking into Futureshop! But for SCIU you will need a lot more firewalls and rerouters to even get past their first line of defense. I have practice with this, I know. I embezzled from them, remember?"

"That's what the round-a-bout is for, by the time they even process they've been hacked we'll already be halfway downloaded."

"That may be true, but why cut it so close when you can do all that and be out before even one alarm rings."

"The more complicated the hack the easier it is to trace!"

"Not if you're clever!"

"I've hacked into the White House!"

"You call that hard, the president uses the same password for everything!"

Helen shook her head.

"Boys, boys, boys!" she shouted over them. "Is there any sort of compromise here?"

Nikola looked over at Henry and Henry eyed him back.

"I can do a level three hack," Henry said confidently.

"Not with the right amount of firewalls you can't," Nikola chirped.

"Then you do them, I can get us in and downloaded quick enough while you distract them, you're good at that," Henry said bitterly.

"Helen!" Nikola whined.

"Don't let it get to your ego," Helen rolled her eyes. "Is that feasible, Nikola?"

He grumbled but nodded.

"Just because you're five doesn't mean you will garner any more sympathy than you used to," Helen whispered to him.

"Hey, I am eight and three quarters," he said indignantly. "And don't you forget it."

Helen couldn't resist the smile.

"Oh god, can you not flirt?"

Helen's smile dropped.

"Sorry Henry, just having a heart to heart," Helen backed away from Nikola.

"That's what I'm afraid of," Henry looked disgusted from where he was sitting.

"Oh grow up Henry!" Helen growled. "And get me that hack!"

They nodded as she marched out.

Nikola sighed and placed his cheek on his hand, watching her walk out.

"I love it when she's authoritative," he sighed dreamily.

"Dude, you're eight," mumbled Henry.

"Only on the outside," Nikola sat up. "I'm the same age as I ever was on the inside."

"So, twelve?" teased Henry.

"Watch it, cause if I'm stuck like this I'm going to become best friends with your child and teach it all my bad habits," Nikola threatened. "How'd you like a miniature me as a child?"

"I hope it's a girl," said Henry trying not to look as perturbed by the thought as he was.

"Even better, I can be her first crush," Nikola teased and Henry paled.

"You stay away from her!" Henry stood up an pointed at him wildly.

Nikola smirked.

"Now that we've come to an understanding, shall we get to work?" he spun around on the stool and hopped off to grab some necessary equipment to create the firewalls.

"I'm starting to think I liked you better when you worked for SCIU," Henry grumbled.

"Then you'd never get in," Nikola sneered.

Henry glared at him and he glared back.

~~~~Elsewhere~~~~

Helen sighed as she reached her office, plopping down heavily into her leather desk chair and letting out a long sigh.

She always felt like this, every time he came around, because he never just visited.

She groaned. She should've known when he hadn't arrived at the rendezvous point that he would show up later with trouble nipping at his heels. Her insecurities liked to make her think that he had ran away because of their kiss, but then again, she had initiated it which said more than a thousand words to him. He would stick around, to gloat if nothing else.

It didn't help that he was now stuck in an eight year old body.

She was so caught up in her thoughts that she did not hear Will enter.

"You're fantasizing about him aren't you?"

Helen was visibly shaken by the interruption.

"Will, I...I was just thinking about something."

"Him. You were thinking about him. Don't try to deny it, I know all the signs."

Helen gave will a look.

"You know, you're beginning to sound like him."

"Is it...anything you want to talk about?"

"No, it's nothing like that...I'm just trying to think of SCIU's endgame. What could they possibly hope to gain by putting Nikola's consciousness into an eight year old boy, and on the other hand, where did they put the boy?"

"Maybe he's an orphan?"

"Possibly. But still. We're playing with only half the puzzle here."

Will nodded.

"Well he said they called him Peter, maybe there are records, we could ask Tesla, see where he was enrolled in school, see if we can find something on the people pretending to be his parents. Who knows maybe they aren't pretending."

"Do you really think SCIU would harm a real couple's child?"

"Maybe...if the child was already in an empty vessel. Parents would do anything for their children if desperate enough. SCIU finds out that a high class, well to do family has a child with severe brain damage, in a coma and they come and offer them a cure. The parents agree and the child is handed over to them. A few weeks later the child is returned to them awake and alive, if missing his memory, they think: small price to pay for having their son back. All of the sudden, SCIU has a sleeper cell genius in a family of influence that they can manipulate to their side when the times comes. Who better than the worlds foremost expert on electricity."

Helen mulled over Will's theory.

"Alright, assuming SCIU is diabolical to attempt such a scheme. I'll see what information I can get from Nikola."

"That shouldn't be hard knowing him," Will smirked.

"No," Helen shook her head.

"Is it true what he said?"

"Huh?" Helen looked up to meet her protege's eyes.

"About you kissing him before the destruction of the Old Sanctuary."

Helen felt a slight twinge of heat in her cheeks.

"Yes..."

"Why?"

"Because he was there, Will...and he was looking at me like...like he always does right before I go off and do something crazy and...and I felt I owed him something after all this time...just in case."

"You know, any man might think you care for him."

Helen laughed. "He's my oldest friend, I have to care for him, I'm the only one he has left."

"I'm sure he has someone other than you."

"Oh, he has his friendships, his own string of past relationships, of ex-lovers, and of contacts and partnerships that he has maintained over the years, same as I do. But I'm the only thing left of his past, just as he is mine. I look at him and I see the face of everyone who ever mattered to me. The Five, my father, my mother, my first crush, my best friend as a child, my favorite pet, the sweet neighbor who used to look after me when my father was out of town, my first mentor in University, every young boy I ever danced with, and so on and so forth."

"He's all those?"

Helen laughed again.

"Not implicitly, I didn't meet him until I was well into my early twenties and he certainly wasn't my first crush. But, he reminds me of them, in the way he moves and talks sometimes, it still carries hints of the old world with it and it hits me like a wave of nostalgia."

Will nodded.

"So that's why you keep him around."

"Yes...that and if I didn't he'd be working for SCIU."

"Didn't he do that anyway?"

"Well, yes, but for an ulterior motive that worked in my favor."

"I see."

Helen smiled.

"Will, I swear if you breathe a word of this to him-"

"I know, you'll send me to a cold dark place with no coffee and an endless stack of paperwork."

Will got up from the chair and began heading towards to the door. "Speaking of which, I have a distinctly terrifying pile already awaiting me."

Helen chuckled. "Go on then, I'll talk to Nikola when he and Henry are done. By then it'll be way past his bed time."

Will scoffed as he opened the door. "Have fun tucking him in."

"Oh yes, loads," Helen rolled her eyes returning to the paperwork in front of her.

Will laughed and disappeared down the hallway.

The silence in the room was peaceful and Helen took a moment to revel in it. She closed her eyes, taking the moment to sort through the days events in her mind. From waking up to Nikola's arrival, to now. She reviewed all the steps she had taken to lead her to this very moment and wondered what she could've done differently to change the outcome.

She must've had closed her eyes for longer than she realized because when she finally convinced herself to reopen them and continue working she was met with a pair of inquisitive blue-grey eyes staring wide-eyed and curious at her. She jumped seeing him.

"Nikola!"

"You're beautiful when you're asleep."

Helen relaxed and glared at him.

"What do you want?" she bit harshly.

"I'm sorry, did I disturb you from your beauty rest?"

Helen scowled deeper.

"We're in, we should have all the files downloaded momentarily...assuming wolf boy doesn't try to do anything fancy while I'm away."

"And?"

"And I figured you would want to be the first to know what they did to me."

"Of course you did."

"How else are we to return me to my true state so we can finally consummate our love!"

Helen rolled her eyes.

"Not happening Nikola."

"Well certainly not now, but just you wait when I'm back in my handsome, irresistibly manly body."

Helen sighed and got up, maneuvering around her desk to head to her office door.

Nikola followed on his tiny legs.

"Wait, shouldn't we hold hands?" he said. "In case I get lost?"

Helen stopped and glowered at him.

Nikola smiled up at her sweetly.

"Pleeeeease!" he rocked back on his heels like a child does when he really wants something.

With a huff Helen conceded.

"Fine, but the moment you try anything-"

"Oh goody!" Nikola cut her off and took her hand immediately, nuzzling it affectionately with his face.

Helen tensed slightly at the action and tried to suppress the strange queasiness in her stomach. If it had been Nikola in his true form it might've have been rather endearing...as it was, her mind didn't know how to handle Nikola in his present...form.

Instead Helen tried hard not to think about it and began walking to the elevator. Nikola skipped easily beside her, humming a wordless tune to himself.

When they reached the elevator Nikola graciously relinquished her hand to let her press the proper button. Instead, he took the opportunity to wrap his arms around one of her legs, squeezing tightly.

"I've missed you."

Helen blew out a hot steam of air in annoyance. He was doing this purposefully because he knew she was uncomfortable.

"Too far, Nikola."

"Huh?"

"Let go."

"K."

He did so without hesitation, stepping away from her and beaming widely from ear to ear. Separating the fact that behind that smile was the mind of a 150 year old letch, Helen had to admit as an eight year old he was a rather sweet, if precocious little boy. She briefly wondered how insufferable he was in school.

"May I ask you a question?"

"Ask away my love," Nikola spread his arms widely to indicate he was an open book to her.

"What's it like?"

"Hmm?

"You know, to be young again?"

"Oh that...not much different really. You hardly notice it at all until you look down at yourself and realize you're only about a quarter of your height."

"I see."

"It has it's certain disadvantages though."

"Like what?" Helen said without really thinking.

"Like I can't kiss you the way I want to," Nikola said as passionately as his eight year old voice could muster.

Helen sighed.

"I swear to you Helen, me showing up in an eight year olds body was not exactly what I had in mind for our reunion."

Helen gave him a look. She was going to regret asking this...but:

"What did you have in mind?"

The boy's beaming smile curled with a wicked edge. It was distressing.

"Oh you don't want to know...not yet anyways."

Helen eyed him uncomfortably for a moment.

"I will never get used to this," Helen muttered.

~~~~Author's Note~~~~

More weird Helen/child!Nikola flirty banter! Yay!

Thank you for all the lovely reviews!

Another chapter will be posted soon! For now, enjoy!