"So, how exactly does this thing work?"

Ved is slowly hooking Leigha up to the machine. Ram is watching. Leigha is pretending like she has no idea what this machine is going to do, trying to ignore Ved's warnings.

"It has you face your worst fear!" Ram says with delight.

Leigha looks skeptical. "How?"

Ram shrugs and smiles. "Now that I've got you thinking about your worst fear, that machine will scan if and create it"

"Thinking of my worst fear?"

Ram nodded, smiling.

"What if I'm thinking about your hair or what I ate this morning for breakfast? Is that supposed to be my worst fear?"

Ram frowns. Ved tried to hide a laugh.

"No!" Ram says, "It will find your worst fear, believe me"

"Because I'm 'thinking' about it, right?"

Ram frowns but nodds.

"So, right now, my worst and greatest fear is of rain puddles?"

"NO!"

"Out of what you just told me, yes!"

"NO!"

"Yes…"

"NO!"

"Yes…"

"NO!"

Silence.

"Yes!"

She smiles innocently. It was fun to piss Ram off. Ved and Jay were wrong; there was nothing to fear of Ram.

"What're you afraid of, Ram?"

Leigha's question caught him off guard. "What?" he asked angrily.

She smiles. "What're you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid of anything"

"Yes, you are"

"No, I'm not!"

"Yes, you are, Ram"

"No, I am not"

Leigha smirks and glances at him. "Then your eyes are lying"

Ram doesn't say anything. If Java had been there she would have shut her up.

"Everyone's afraid of something, Ram. Like…. Ved! Ved, what're you afraid of?"

Ved stops from his work and looks up, embarrassed. Ram smiles, he wants to hear what Ved's answer is. Leigha looks at Ved and he reads her eyes. She wants him to lie, but reply nonetheless.

"Spiders," Ved mumbles. Ram laughs loudly. Ved winks at Leigha and she smiles.

"You see?" Leigha asks Ram. She leans her head back on the chair, looking up. Ved flips a switch that makes the wires on Leigha's skin jump, causing her to wince.

"Maybe that's your fear, my dear, Leigha: pain"

Leigha looks over at him.

"Or maybe it's a fear of dying"

He is trying to scare her. It wasn't working. Ram was just being daft. She smiles.

Ram starts to think. He was getting arrogant and started to think maybe she was afraid of him. She knows what he is thinking.

"Don't flatter yourself, Ram!"

He frowns.

"No, You are not my worst fear," she says flatly.

He stares at her and grins evilly.

"Nope, still not my worst fear"

Ram frowns as Ved laughs. Ved coughs, trying to disguise his outburst. They all know that machine isn't going to work. Ram isn't ready to give up yet.

Leigha starts to hum. It is not a certain tune, but it soon finds it's way into Ram's head. It's repetitive and catchy. She continues to hum.

"Stop that!"

She smiles and hums louder. Ram leans over and grabs her throat. She reaches her hand up and grabs his throat. She smiles. He isn't applying pressure to her neck, but she is. She watches his face slowly turn purple. She isn't cutting off his air supply, only the blood flow.

He grips her neck harder, making her breaths shallow. Ram isn't used to doing things like that. Neither was Leigha actually, she had just learned well. Finally, Ram released his hand from her skin angrily and she did the same.

Leigha reaches up and rubs her neck where his fingers had been. She can see Ved smile off to the side. Both Leigha and Ved wonder why Ram hadn't used his stun-gun bracelet like all Technos had.

Leigha chuckles and smiles.

"You're still not my worst fear"