Hello, everyone! This is Dragoncat…

I just want to say that I am so sorry it's taken me so long to write this chapter. But, after so many months of intense deliberation – and so many other things that I had to do – I am so certain that I have figured out how to carry this story along, and I so hope that you enjoy reading it.

So…I now present…

Chapter Fifteen

(This is all happening too fast… It shouldn't be happening at all…Zeta should not be falling in love… Rowen should not be pregnant from a synthoid… Casey should not be blackmailed by his own boss… Buenaventura should not be Zeta's physician, and – most of all – ZETA SHOULD NOT BE EVOLVING INTO A HUMAN!)

It's taking every ounce of strength Bennet has to maintain his trademark poker face.

"Zee!" Ro hurries down the stairs, her queasiness cast aside after seeing the state Zee is in. "Zee, what happened? Are you alright?"

Casey hugs his sister, keeping her from approaching the battered and bruised Zee. "Please, Ro. Let him rest a moment. I'm sure he'll tell us what happened when he comes to." Casey struggles not only with Ro, but with his own composure. Everything is going downhill so fast. His boss blackmails him, then Ro becomes pregnant, and now this… (Why is this happening? Why?)

"Oh, Zee…" Ro can't help but sob at the sight of him. "His robot body would normally repair itself within seconds, but now…"

Bucky is also curious as to why Zee has not repaired himself. He gathers his laptop and his backpack together and tries to move the coffee table a little closer to the couch. After Bennet helps move the table, Bucky carefully spreads Zee's jacket open and gently lifts his T-shirt. There are even bigger bruises on Zee's torso than on his face. Ro shudders at the thought of what kind of beating Zee took while looking for her.

Bucky gathers his probing wires, inserting them into his laptop first before he slowly and carefully injects the other ends through Zee's bruised torso. As gentle as Bucky tries to be, the jabbing startles Zee into sitting up and swinging his arms around. He tries to see, but his eyes are so bruised they're swollen shut.

"No! Stop it…! Get away from me!"

Bucky barely dodges the swings as he scrambles away with his laptop like a mother with her child. The coffee table, however, gets kicked aside and topples over as Zee stands up and continues swinging is arms as though he's fighting. He must think he's still being attacked. Bucky stops near the staircase. "Zee! Zee, it me! It's Bucky! Calm down!"

Bennet prepares to jump in, hoping he won't have to use his gun. Zee, being a synthoid, is still stronger than everyone else here. Casey continues to keep Ro at a distance, but her voice is beyond his control.

"Zee! Zee! Can you hear me? Zee!"

Upon hearing Ro's voice, he stops swinging his arms and tries to look around. "Ro...? Ro…where are you?"

"Yes, Zee, I'm here. We're safe now. We're at Casey's. Please, Zee, calm down. It's all right now."

As he listens to Ro's soothing voice, he calms down. He lowers his arms and starts breathing heavily. "Ro…"

Now Bennet makes his move. He approaches with extreme caution. "Zeta? It's Bennet. We're all back at the apartment now. Rowen made it back, safe and sound." He slowly and carefully places a hand on Zee's shoulder, in case he's injured there, too.

"I… I can't see. It…hurts...so much…"

Bennet guides him back to the couch. "You took quite a beating out there, Zeta. But you're safe now. Come back to the couch. You need to lie down. Hold still, now." He gently takes off Zee's coat and T-shirt. Zee cooperates, but he can't help but wince at the pain he endures. Once everyone sees the bruises all over his upper body, they understand why he's in so much pain.

Soon Zee is back on the couch. Casey and Ro lift the coffee table back in place so Bucky can carry on with his analysis. This time Zee concentrates on breathing while Bucky carefully inserts the probing wires through his bruised skin. That's when Bucky can't help but notice that Zee can…breathe?

While Bennet watches Bucky run his computer analysis, Casey takes Ro to the kitchen. Ro takes a seat at the kitchen table while Casey pours her a glass of orange juice. Ro slowly sips from the glass. "Thanks."

Casey takes a seat across from her. "So…how are you feeling?"

Ro takes another sip. "Why is this happening? This morning started out so great. I went to register for classes, ready to finally get my diploma. The next thing I know, your boss demands he interviews me, or else; Zee get himself beat up while searching for me; and to top it all off…I'm carrying his baby. I'd say that all adds up to me feeling…just awful. There's no way I'm going to get any sleep tonight. What am I going to do, Casey? There's no way I can do that interview. He's obviously going to ask me questions I cannot answer: the NSA, my relationship with Zee… It's going to be a disaster, I just know it! Let's face it; we never should have come here. Your job wouldn't be on the line if not for me…"

"Stop it, Ro. Just stop it!" Casey could not take anymore. "This may sound like crazy talk, I know…but in spite of all this, you have no idea how good it feels to finally have my sister back after all these years." The tears are beyond his control. "You don't know how helpless I felt when Child Services came for us, after Grandma and Grandpa were declared too old to look after us. And to make matters worse, they said there was no way we could remain together in foster care. I didn't even get the chance to say good-bye; not to you, not even to our grandparents… I envy the fact that you can't remember any of that. You don't know how many nights I cried in my sleep. You don't get over stuff like that overnight! It's just that… It's just… I kept hoping that you'd be okay, that you'd find someone… Who knew that that someone would be…?" He gestures toward Zee. "I'm telling you, Ro… If not for Jensen… I… I'd…handle…this…better…"

This is just too much for Casey. He breaks down and cries at the kitchen table with his face buried in his hands. Ro also has tears in her eyes, as well as queasiness in her stomach. But she holds it in; she does not want to throw up. (What irony… He envies that I can't remember… I envy that he can…)

She hurries across the table and hugs her brother…and prays for a miracle that will end this downward spiral that they're in.

Bennet can't help but listen in on the siblings. He'd rather not come between them right now, and seeing Bucky work on Zeta sends a little shiver up his spine. Any NSA scientist would give anything for this opportunity, but they would not be so gentle, and Zeta would not be so calm about it either. So he picks a spot out of everyone's way – the bottom of the stairs should do for now – and tries to think of something – anything – he can do to help.

That's when his foot knocks something. He looks down to find a small yellow box with a blue ribbon. He picks it up. It must have fallen out of Zeta's pocket when he was helping him take it off. It's just the right size for… (Oh, dear God! It's the ring! I'm too late! He's already bought the wedding ring!)

With the little present held tight in his hand, almost squeezing it, he sits at the bottom of the staircase and tries to think about what he should do. Any moment now, this purchase will show up on Zeta's cred account. West will see it, and then Lemac will see it…

Everyone's thoughts are halted at the sound of a phone ringing. At first, Bennet thought it was his cell, (Oh, no! It's Lemac...) but it turns out to be Casey's phone. No one is eager to answer it. Who in their right mind would be calling at this late hour, anyway? After a few more rings, a voice message says…

"MacCurdy? This is Jensen. Look, I know it's late, but I just want you to know that…I'm… I'm calling off the interview. Your sister does not have to show up tomorrow. And…you can… You can take the day off, too… Look, something big has come up…so, don't worry about it, okay?"

All's silent, even Zee's breathing.

MEANWHILE…

B.D. Commander is starting to run low on his favourite brand of Scotch. (What a night!)

First he gets a report from Agent Jack about running into an old friend of his who happens to work at the Chronicle and finding out that Jensen interviewing Rosalie Rowen, of all people. Who would have thought that Brother's Day would be doing the National Security Agency such a tremendous favour by convincing Jensen to call it off? But he had to do it. If people found out that a killing machine was running loose in their city, it would cause a panic. Despite what the NSA says about his organization, he is not the one letting machines replace people. It's just a matter of time before the horrible truth about the Infiltration Units is exposed, and Brother's Day will put a stop to them once and for all…

(...And then everyone will see who the real terrorists are.)

Thankfully, Sweete pulled through again. He and his team were able to grab hold of Jensen and secure all of his blackmail tapes, including the ones in his office. It pays to be well-connected.

But then, Jack sends him yet another report. It seems that while Sweete was picking up Jensen, Zeta happened to be in the area and witnessed the incident. According to Jack, Zeta, MacCurdy and Agent Bennet left the apartment building in a big hurry, and were heading for what he later learned were places to register for Correspondence courses. They later split up in different directions, with the synthoid heading for the park.

B.D. Commander can only assume that they were searching for Rowen, since Jensen was forcing her into an interview. But why search for her at a Correspondence Course office? Was she actually trying to go back to school? Who would've thought?

And what was Bennet doing there? I know he's been assigned to hunt down Sweete, but why would he get Zeta involved? Zeta doesn't want to work for the NSA anymore. Isn't that why he was on the run in the first place?

Nevertheless, Jack continued his surveillance on the synthoid since he's the primary target. After walking all through the park, Zeta went straight to the Chronicle building and arrived just in time to see Sweete drive away with Jensen. (Great! He must've thought that he could persuade Jensen to leave Rowen alone. So much for artificial intelligence! And now he knows Sweete is in the area.)

As Sweete drove away, Zeta tried to run after him. He was heading toward the alley entrance Jack was hiding in. That's when Jack made his move. He grabbed Zeta, pulled him into the alley and attacked him; made it look like a simple mugging. Agent Jack is one of Brother's Day's most skilled fighters. Even though he knew he couldn't destroy Zeta by himself, he also knew that if Zeta tells Bennet what he saw, it would jeopardize everything. Zeta tried to defend himself from 'the mugger', but Agent Jack was not going to let him get away unscathed.

It truly pays to have competent employees.

But the next part of Jack's report can only be described as…disturbing.

Jack anticipated that Zeta's titanium alloy would be hard on his hands, so he wore titanium knuckle braces under his thick gloves. Much to Jack's surprise, he discovered hitting Zeta was not as 'hard' as he thought it would be. He also noticed that his blows did not cause Zeta's holographic image to shut down at all. Zeta did, however, manage to acquire severe bruising whenever he was struck. No matter how many times he struck the synthoid, his human-like image remained intact…bruised skin, ripped clothing, and maybe even some 'broken bone' imagery, but still intact.

Jack could not believe how easy it was to overpower Zeta. The synthoid barely put up a fight. It was like clobbering a science nerd during his high school years.

B.D. Commander knew that Rowen had bought him real clothing to wear, but how could a synthoid's holographic image be bruised? It was almost as though Jack was…beating up...a human being?

(No! That's just not possible! Synthoids were made to mimic humans, not become humans! There's no way for a robot to become human…on one hand… And yet, this is Zeta we're talking about... He's not like the other robots, thanks to that crazy scientist, Selig.)

He scans the report again. Agent Jack did not have enough time to fully examine his work. He heard police sirens and fled from the scene. Once he got to a safe distance to continue spying, he saw that the police car sped past the alley. It must have been responding to another emergency and just happened to be heading past the area. The synthoid made no effort to flag it down, however. By the time he finally got to his feet, the police car was long gone. When Zeta was finally able to stand, he slowly made his way toward the apartment building where Casey MacCurdy lives, leaning on the walls every step of the way.

Agent Jack is positive that he did not attack someone else by mistake. The synthoid has been using the same 'Zee' image for years, and Jack has been following him ever since he and his girlfriend journeyed to San Francisco. There's no doubt in his mind that that was indeed Zeta. Somehow, his hologram has become more…real.

Jack concludes his report by mentioning that once Zeta started making his way back to Casey's apartment; Jack stopped by the fight scene and noticed small traces of what looked like fresh blood. He is certain it's not his blood since Zeta did not fight back as well as first anticipated. He used his handkerchief to collect a sample of the blood, and quickly dropped the sample off at a nearby 'contact spot' where another B.D. agent picked it up and delivered it to B.D. Commander's secret lab.

That was nearly two hours ago. B.D. Commander has two of his night-shift scientists working on the 'blood sample'. (Unbelievable! A robot is supposedly turning into a real human. Am I to believe that Zeta is the next Pinocchio? More like a Frankenstein monster!)

Agent Jack is presently continuing his surveillance of Zeta, who made it back to the apartment and is now being looked after by his friends.

A few minutes later, his secretary knocks on his door before entering…with extreme caution. "Excuse me, sir, but, according to your instructions, you wanted to see this report the minute it came from the lab." B.D. Commander simply nods his head as she places the slightly thick folder on his desk, and then quickly returns to her desk, closing the door behind her.

After taking another sip ofthe last of hisScotch, he grabs the report labeled "Zeta Blood Test", takes a glance at its contents…

…and nearly chokes.

"No… No! This can't be right! This just can't be…! That crazy old coot…! What has he done…? How could he…?" B.D. Commander is now out for blood as he storms out of his office with the report clenched in his hands on the verge of being ripped to shreds. (When I get my hands on Selig…! He probably has no idea what he's done…but, one way or another, he's going to tell me all about it!)

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Don't worry, folks. There's more to come. Please stay tuned.