Witness Protection

Disclaimer: I don't own Kickin' It, or any other Disney Channel show. They belong to their respective producers/writers/companies.

A/N:

Chapter 10 (Milton's Breakthrough)

Milton wiped the sweat from his brow as he huddled over the small device that had been given by Bobby. He wanted to first investigate the differences between the used and the unused. Ty stated clearly that you could not touch them without gloves, due to getting pricked by the needle inside, but it was a one-time stick. Therefore, he only handled them both with gloves, just in case the needle did come out of the used one.

He was currently sitting in a small motel room while the others were out checking on whatever family they had left, ensuring they all believed they were going on some martial arts camping trip. Then again, he was pretty sure Jack and Kim were walking the motel together and chatting about whatever it was the two talked about whenever they were together. It wasn't first on his mind, he was in the midst of a breakthrough! He'd used a light to see into the holes that Ty was talking about, and indeed there were three screws around the colored circle on the top. He had, in his disposal, a tiny screwdriver purchased from a local hardware store that could fit inside.

Carefully, he reached into the hole and stuck his tongue out, concentrating fully on his task. The area surrounding him ceased to exist as though this device were the only thing in the world. He narrowed his eyes and began turning the screwdriver. After several rotations, he felt something loosening, and soon burst with confidence. After another few seconds, the screw was out. It was half the length of a pin cushion needle, but the same width around.

"Eureka…" He continued onto the next screw, focusing so intensely that he missed the sweat dripping from his nose. Once he pulled the second and third screws out, he was able to flip the top of the device off. The inside looked like a hollow bowl, and without the top circle, the device expanded just enough that he could reach in. What he saw surprised him, but at the same time, it confused him. "What am I looking at here?" He grabbed a tiny magnifier and put it up to his eye, glancing about the inside.

Inside this hollow ball was an even smaller ball of silver with a small needle that was erected from the ball. The stunning thing was this needle no longer had a tip. Rather, upon closer inspection, the needle had a flat tip with a round hole in the center. Blood, as well as some strange white residue, rested on the edge. He narrowed his eyes and started to turn the device, humming a slow tune as he continued to study it. What was the purpose?

A red wire caught his attention. He ran his forefinger along it and made the assumption that it was attached to the light, but he could see nowhere to turn it on. Although, as he inspected it further, he did see a small blip next to the metal ball that seemed indicative of remote control. "I wonder…can someone turn this on? How…I need more answers. First, what's inside this thing?" He carefully grasped the safe outside edges of the needle and started to pull. As he did, he discovered that the needle indeed can push forward and retract. However, the used needle was locking rather quickly.

"Obviously being used already, you're not going to extend again…" He grabbed a sheet of paper on the table and pulled it over, if there was something inside the ball, he wanted to pour it out if possible. He was about to try and dump the contents when he stopped to think about the density of the needle, it was likely that the needle could be bent and broken. To save the trouble of using his fingers, he grabbed a pair of sharp wire cutters also purchased at the hardware store.

He gripped the top of the needle and brought the cutters to the center, then slowly began cutting down into the needle. Clenching his teeth, he pressed the cutters down one final time and snapped the needle off. When he pulled the needle up, white residue mixed with blood began pouring out. He gasped out softly and slowly set the piece onto the sheet of paper. "What the hell is that white stuff?" There appeared to be more blood than residue, but whatever the residue was, he had to wonder if it could be injected with the needle.

He carefully brought the unused metal device over and began to open it up. Once he did, he decided to determine how exactly the needle moved. He created a mock impression of human skin, in which he started to bring towards the outside shell. He used his cutters to hold the needle in place so it would not punch forward without his being reading for it. As he touched the makeshift skin to the metal device, he was able to see the ball moving the needle towards the particular hole. It jerked, but his grip kept it from actually going forward. "Aha!" He removed the skin piece and quickly turned to his notebook, whisking away his pen and jotting down his findings.

Investigating the needle, he saw the very tip was well intact, unlike the used one. What this told him was the tip of the needle was sitting somewhere inside Bobby Wasabi, along with whatever white residue was injected into him. Now the question that remained was, what was the white residue supposed to be?

He rubbed his chin and started to wrap the makeshift skin around a small soft block of candle wax. Milton grabbed a syringe with red dye color and injected it into the wax cube, hoping to mimic blood. Once he pressed it against the object, the needle shot forward and punched into the device. The needle pulled back, vacuuming blood inside of it, as though exchanging the residue.

Thinking fast on this discovery, he wrote his findings and began to slowly tear apart the cube. What he found astonished him, the tip of the needle, which was barely a centimeter long, was pouring out that residue. He narrowed his eyes and started humming in thought. This mysterious residue, once entered into the bloodstream, could it potentially act as a deadly parasite?

The door opened up, startling him back into his surroundings. He quickly looked to see Jack and the others entering. "Did you find anything at all?" Jack asked with an eager tone. Milton wiped the sweat from his brow once more and sighed.

"I don't know why I'm getting all excited," he replied. "My findings are a little confusing. However what I do understand from my findings is…this thing is very technologically advanced, so I know some really good scientists had to have created this…thing."

"So what did you find?"

"Well." He lifted the device up and began to explain, hoping they could understand. He went for the simplest means that he could use. "This thing detects the skin, the metal ball in the center rotates the needle and allows it to push forward just one time. The very tip of the needle breaks off once it gets into something…now that's when it gets weird."

"Okay?" Jack took a seat across from him and stared at the device. Milton set it down and grabbed the cube. He wasn't ready to explain, since he himself didn't fully comprehend it.

"I haven't run tests on what it is, so I don't know yet, but there's this mysterious white residue that appears to be in the very tip. So whatever it is, it is ejected into the body." He watched his friend's face pale as he studied the cube. Milton cleared his throat and pointed back to the ball. "I'm not certain if the residue is in the tip, or if it's in both the tip and the inside of this ball, but there's some kind of suctioning that sucks the blood it transfers into the ball. Maybe like a genetic fingerprint or something…some of these things I don't understand, it's almost like…I think we need the actual scientists that made these things in order to figure anything out!"

"So whatever the crap is that it injects into the bloodstream…nobody appears to be affected. I mean all the celebrities that have it are acting the same way they always have, and Bobby's been acting his usual self."

"That's what's confusing me." He took the broken, used machine, and started to dump the contents onto the paper. Once he did, he reached forward and felt of the texture of the residue. It had a very smooth texture, almost like flour. He was certain it wasn't flour, but he needed to observe it just a little longer. "There is a wire in here that goes to the LED light, but I also spotted a small thing that seems to detect a remote signal of some kind. It makes me think whatever this thing is, it can be accessed by some weird machine."

"Okay Milt, tell me then what you think based off of what you know so far. Is it dangerous?"

"Dangerous?" He scoffed and chuckled, moving his gaze towards the white powder on the paper. "There's an unknown substance injected into the bloodstream of every major actor and singer on this planet, possibly accessed by remote control, and you're asking me if it's dangerous?" he didn't know how this residue reacted once in the body. Did it expand? Did it evaporate? Did it explode? Were those that got pricked by that needle now considered ticking time bombs? "What do you think, Jack?"

Jack crossed his arms and lowered his voice to a flat tune. "Hey, no time to become a smart-ass." Milton shook his head and ran his hand through his hair. He didn't mean to upset him, he was only frustrated.

"Sorry Jack, I just really don't know what to tell you. For all I know, if this LED light turns on…if someone is able to turn this thing on and activate that powder somehow, it might spell disaster." He moved his gaze to Jack's, leaning forward with an honest and upset expression. "I think more than just our families and Rudy are in danger. This is worldwide, and I've only figured out how the thing operates. I still don't know what the hell it does…do we really want to wait and find out?"

"No, we can't do that." Of course not, because by the time they waited to find out, it might be too late. Chances were, they only had one opportunity to stop this before it became an international crisis. "So we need to figure out where these are being produced, why they're being produced, and stop the damn production."

"Simple enough?"

"Yeah…right…" Jack laughed sarcastically and glanced off to the right. "What did Ty say? All the scientists and manufacturers had bases scattered around Antarctica?" Milton raised an eyebrow and Jack slowly looked back to him. Antarctica was no place to live, only the scientists could survive those frigid temperatures. "We can't survive Antarctica, Milton. We're not scientists!"

"Actually…" Instantly the visualization of some specialized suit came to mind. Perhaps if he could invent a suit capable of resisting such cold temperatures, they could manage, but he needed a laboratory to work in. There was an old friend of his father's that lived somewhere nearby who could help create this suit. "Have any of you heard of a man named Mr. Davenport?" He chuckled briskly and clasped his hands together.

"No…"

"Either way. I think I can get us a suit that can withstand Antarctica's temperatures. Then we can get some answers from those scientists."

What are your thoughts on this device? Oh, and hope you guys recognize the scientist they're about to visit.