Querl sighed as he woke up, sitting up in bed. He didn't have much laying around his room, mostly because he didn't have much period. He swung his feet out of bed and walked out the room to try and get to the kitchen ahead of his roommate, Aviv. He didn't think it was very fair for Aviv to have to cook considering he was the only one with a job. It's not that Querl didn't try to find one, it was just that he couldn't.

"I am willing to cook, y'know," Querl sighed as he saw Aviv at the stove.

"Yes, but I would like to be able to actually eat instead of have the house smell of burnt eggs all day and have a pan full of rocks," the red-head teased, spooning out the eggs onto a pair of plates. "And yes, I'm aware that you can get your own food, but I'm paranoid and deal with it" he said before the Coluan could get a single word out. He sighed, grabbing the plates to take over to the table before Aviv could.

"I'm still not letting you do everything." Aviv just chuckled, sitting down while Querl grabbed forks and napkins to finish setting the table.

"So you wanna talk about your nightmare this time or are you still gonna keep it a secret from me?" Aviv said as Querl sat down after giving the other his fork and napkin.

"It was nothing," Brainy lied, pushing his eggs around his plate. The memories of what Brainiac 1.0 made him do still haunted him. He wanted to tell Aviv, but he was afraid that if he did the other would know who he really was and kick him out. Or worse, turn him in to the science police for crimes that weren't really his fault. He was being controlled, but there's no way that he could prove it.

"C'mon Querl, it could-"

"It could help stop the nightmares from recurring if we knew the underlying meaning. Yes, yes, I know you've told me several times before Aviv. Like I said, though, it's probably just my brain chemistry trying to sort out emotions, there's no real meaning under that other than an already-known fact: I was a robot that didn't have any real feelings most of my life." Aviv sighed, getting up as there was a pounding on the door.

"Coming!" He called, Querl starting to clear the table of the dishes of their finished breakfast. He was surprised to find a pair of police officers behind it, "Can I...help you officers...?" He was confused about why they were there.

"I'm officer Tazer, and this is my partner Yek. We're looking for a certain Coluan, we heard that one lives here," the officer said, quickly stiffening a bit when it hit him how racist that sounded. "Not to be rude or racist or anything, but we're just...following orders...to try to find him..."

"Okay...uh, yeah, Querl's Coluan. Though, I highly doubt he's one to commit any kind of crime. Sprok, he tries to keep me from doing housework between looking for jobs since I'm the only one with one right now. C'mon in, though, he's probably getting changed right now." Aviv said, letting the officers in and heading over to Querl's room as they sat down. "Hey, Querl, there's some guys here that want to talk to you for a sec"

"Who," Querl asked confused, getting some clean clothes from his closet.

"Science police, they're just trying to narrow down a suspect pool and have orders to follow. It'll only take, like, five minutes probably." Querl's breath caught in his throat, glad Aviv was on the other side of the door so he couldn't see the Coluan pale a bit. He gulped silently, saying he'd be out in a minute and changing, making extra sure his bangs covered his insignia and putting on his cap before leaving the room. The officer that saw him first, Tazer, didn't hesitate to speak up when he saw him.

"What's with the cap inside, kid?"

"I was gonna run to the store and didn't want to forget it. Eyes are still a bit sensitive to light..." he said with a shrug.

"Didn't you just do the shopping two days ago?" Aviv said confused.

"The...sour cream smells funny, must've been rotated wrong or just y'know, forgotten when they were rotating the stock." Aviv still looked confused, but excepted the answer with a shrug.

"Well you're inside right now, so, mind taking the cap off?" Officer Tazer said, Yek getting up in case the teen tried to run. Querl took his cap off like he was asked, being careful to not let his bangs move when he did so. Tazer went over to him, reaching forward to move his bangs to the side to check for his Brainiac insignia. Querl backed up quickly, smacking the man's hand away.

"What do you think you're doing?" he snapped, putting his hat back on.

"Just need to look at your forehead for a second, calm down," Tazer said, calling out after Querl when he bolted for the door, managing to catch Yek off-guard and slip out the door. The officers chased him, catching him before long.

"Hey, wait, just let me explain for a sec," Querl said, wincing when Yek grabbed and pulled on his arms a bit too roughly, "I just didn't want Aviv to find out just to watch me get dragged away in a pair of cuffs, I know you're looking for me but I wanted Aviv to find out by me talking to him..."

"Then why didn't you just say anything in the apartment?" Yek snapped, Tazer making him let Querl go before he hurt the kid too much.

"...Because I'm scared to tell him...He's been patient with me and everything and...I'm afraid that if I tell him...he'll suddenly act like I'm gonna kill him in his sleep and kick me out or turn me in. I didn't do the crimes...of my own will. I was being controlled by Brainiac 1.0, I'm just, I'm still trying to find a way that I can prove it," he explained, talking a bit faster for the last part but not trying to run again when he was let go.

"We still need to check to make sure you're not just covering for the real Brainiac 5" Tazer said, reaching to take the hat off and do so. He stopped when Querl grabbed the bill of the hat.

"I wasn't lying when I said my eyes were still sensitive, any chance that check can wait until after we get to the station?" he asked, Tazer nodding, and taking Querl to the cruiser, staying between him and Yek.

A/N: The story begins! First time trying a story with this kind of a start to it, let me know what you think. Also going to try to do it all in third-person which I've never done well before but practice makes perfect, right?