In which Joe meets Penny, our respect for Macy increases severely and procedures go wrong.

Joe, Elvis by his side, Macy and big Rob all stared at the kind-of-boy in the tube, who seemingly tried to do something. No-one knew what. Though Macy seemed outrageously happy that he was. She edged closer in wonder, holding a clipboard, every now and then writing something down.

Its hand was pressed against the glass and the eyes seemed to watch them as they watched him. Or more specifically; the young man with the flat hair.
Could it do that? Wondered Joe.

"C'mon, Joe. You can come closer." Macy said, marvelling in her scientific break-through, without doubt.
Joe followed her towards it, for he was still unable to see the creature as a 'he', especially not after Macy's earlier explanation;

"They are, of course, objects, meant for usage."

Still, Joe searched for its eye-contact, with Macy watching him as he slowly lifted his hand towards the spot the humanoid touched.
Their hands now touched, on either side of the glass and somehow, this made a shudder run all the way through Joe's spine. His eyes didn't even notice the bright light from the tube anymore.
Neither did the humanoid's eyes for that matter.
Now that Joe could take a close look at them from such a short distance, he saw that the eyes didn't acknowledge the light entirely, as they focused solely on Joe's face. Separately.
Joe gulped as he watched its right eye zoom into him first, the left following barely half a second later. Joe wouldn't have seen it if he hadn't been standing so close.
The humanoid, now called Nick (and it was absolutely really strange that it had a name) then opened its mouth and Joe could clearly see a normal tongue and normal white, though slightly sharp teeth. No sign of anything artificial. It looked like it wanted to take a deep breath.
Or yawn. One could never be sure.
The eyes widened in sudden panic when it moved its lips. It pulled away from the glass and suddenly slammed both its hands against the tube with so much power that Joe feared the glass would break. It didn't, but the Humanoid's body started to jerk and move within the unbreakable tank in complete panic, or so it seemed.

What was happening? Was it okay?
Those were the first and last thoughts that passed through Joe's mind, before big Rob pushed him aside.

In the minutes that followed, Joe's respect for Macy increased with about 200%.
Not that he hadn't respected her before that, but seeing her in action was a whole lot different then just watching her walk around in her lab-coat.

She quickly, but calmly ordered big Rob around, who in his turn, immediately reacted to them, no moment of doubt before he did exactly what she asked. She pushed Joe aside once more to closely examine the boy –Nick— in the tube, her eyes shot over his grimacing face and unnaturally moving limbs.

"He's trying to breathe, of course! I should've started the procedure…" She concluded. "We have to get him out, this instant. Rob! Get the table. Now!"

Joe just stood there, watching the scene fold before his eyes.
It breathed?

A thing that looked like a keyboard (probably just a thousand times more technical) rose from the bottom of the glass tube and Macy's long fingers started to press buttons and touch screens like little athletes. Olympic-athletes, surely.
From the right, big Rob arrived with a table that looked similar to the one Joe had been laying on previously, only this too looked like it had come straight out of a star-trek/star-wars/sci-fi- whatever movie. Futuristic and extremely frightening. Elvis pushed himself against Joe's legs.
There were more wires, for now hung loose over the sides of the table and technical panels covered the surface, looking like they were waiting to be attached to something.
Joe also saw leather restrains. Brand new, he judged by the smell.
This scared him, but not because of what they were made for, but because Nick— the Humanoid might be attached to them. He didn't like the idea behind that.

Then again, would cow-skin stop a robot with over-exaggerated human abilities? He didn't know, he didn't know a thing.

His attention continued to switch back to the tube, which was now emptied of the fluid it held, accompanied by a strange sucking-sound, the sound a vacuum would make when it would suck water.
Macy and big-Rob, who had quickly appeared by her side again, skilfully caught the slowly sinking and trembling humanoid through a window/door Joe hadn't seen before and they professionally pulled him out –like you would pull a hypothermic out of ice-water— and put him on the table. The air smelled like bleach, hair gel and a hint of dried-blood that he tried to ignore when the humanoid's body started to move again, even more uncontrolled now; twisting itself in several painful looking positions until it's back completely arched off the table. Screeching sounds echoed in the large space of the laboratory. Black curls waved around the pale face.
Big Rob almost threw himself on the humanoid-boy, trying to get it back down, wrapping the bounds around the body and Joe now understood why they were necessary, by the looks of it; the thing could hurt itself. Muscles, possibly, rippled beneath the skin as it pulled his restrains.
Macy started to attach the wires to several points on the boy's now partially still body; its temples, throat, where the heart should be, its arms and one just below its ribs on the left side. She took a painfully large looking needle from a side-table and without hesitation plunged it in the boy— Nick's arm. A soft blue fluid was pushed into the robot-system and the body stopped moving. Still and outside the tube, it showed now hints of an olive skin, just like Kevin and just like Joe.
When it was finally calm, big Rob immediately drove its body to the right side of the room, where Joe discovered was another hidden open-area. There Macy attached it to several machines he had seen before and just hadn't known the usage of and then, weird enough, she started rubbing all over its arms and chest, a (probably overly-sterile) white cloth covering it from the waist down. It's head only slightly trashed from one side to another, still in panic, but held down by the drugs.

After big Rob joined her, the humanoid's… Nick's… – the chest started to slowly rise and fall.

Smiling, Macy stopped with her mysterious treatment and grabbed a small black device from her pocket.

"Doctor Macy Misa, report on Humanoid program, one forty-six PM. Humanoid has showed first reactions to surroundings at around one O'seven PM. Natural reflexes and impulses started process at around one thirty-four PM. Systems and control-units are still offline, added machinery shows no sign of start. Body is in clear and has officially and steadily began the third phase of the N.I.C.H.O.L.A.S. Project."

Then she tiredly smiled in Joe's direction. "We're good, Joe. I really hope we didn't scare you. Again. It could've been worse, though, this was just the human side. But I guess this was fairly scary too, even without the robotic-elements."

He wasn't a baby and was perfectly able not to start crying, Joe thought. He was good.
Now that it was over, at least.

"C'mon, come meet… how'd you call it again?" Macy had already turned back to the still, but breathing body on the table.

"Nick." Joe answered, relieved that Macy didn't doubt its humanity. For all he knew, she was the female Frankenstein that tried to create something living and all that.
Nick didn't live.
The added name made that sentence sound really disturbing.

"Come meet Nick, then."

Elvis was already on his way to calmly lie beneath the table, seemingly completely at ease, as Joe approached.

"Once more, sorry about that. It seems like I'm constantly apologising to you, Joe. I screwed up a bit, this time. I should've started the procedure immediately after he started moving limbs. But I am positive he will be fine." Her wide smile didn't exactly confirm her apologetic feelings, but Joe took it anyway.

"I'm still a bit… Dazed, I guess. What exactly is phase 3?" And is this for real?

Big Rob interrupted his answer. "Statistics show no unusuallities, Dr. Misa." He was apparently at peace with Joe's presence now.

"Thank you, Rob." Said Macy. "Keep watching him, will you? I don't want any more complications." She turned to Joe. "Now, Joe. I will have to ask you, no, demand something off you now. It'll sound like a formality by now, but I can't take risks." Her huge brown eyes stared at Joe, somehow looking like they trusted him.

Elvis barked 2 barks, shortly after one another, before he put his head back on his paws and Joe shot both him and Macy a questioning look.

"I need to know that I can truly trust you, Joe…" Her sentence wasn't finished, or at least not enough for Joe to answer his 'of course!'.

A girl had seemingly come out of no-where and was suddenly standing just behind big Rob (who hastily moved aside, looking ridiculous while doing so, because the girl was particulary small-looking)

"We will have to ask your promise, word and honour that you will keep our little project a secret until we choose to expose it." Her soft, angelic voice finished the sentence. "I am surprised Dr. Misa…" The fair haired girl, wearing nothing but black clothes glared at Macy. "Has let you stay for this long, but I see she has her reasons. It's interesting that the Humanoid reacts to you so early in this stage. But you need to swear on whatever it takes that this will stay our little secret."

While the small girl spoke, she walked towards him with large, self-assured steps and Joe nervously fiddled with the hem of his shirt when she stopped barely a foot away from him, sweetly staring up into his face.
There was an air of threat to the young girl, barely older then Macy.

"Well, Joe? Do you swear not to say a word about what is happening here to a single soul? Not to give any kind of information to anyone other then those we approve of? To keep the Humanoid a secret for as long as we think necessary?" She demanded, ignoring the freakishly similar glares she was receiving from both Elvis and big Rob.

"Of course! I won't tell anyone!" Joe all but spat into her face, a little terrified of the smaller youngling. He backed away when she smiled a smile that didn't reach her eyes and made her look even more bad-ass.
Joe, at the moment, didn't really like bad-ass.

"Good." She said.

"But I can still come here, right?" He looked at Macy with panic-filled eyes. The idea of not coming back was really something he didn't like. He wanted to know more of the project and see what would become of the Humanoid; first-hand and not in 10 years when Macy would be terribly famous when she launched the project. Even though, he had to admit, he was slightly scared and dazed by everything.

"If you promise you will do exactly as we say, I don't see why not." The girl said, her hand on her hip, as she examined her nails, looking awfully bored now.

Bi-polar, much?

Joe swallowed. The girl was not much older then him, smaller with that and nothing she'd said was irrational or actually threatening, but Joe found something about her very uncomfortable.

"T-Thank you." He managed.

He didn't receive an answer, the girl just walked away.

Big Rob sighed when he eventually closed the door behind her.

"That was Penny. Daughter of the boss, doesn't deny her anything since that terrible accident when she was eleven. She thinks she's the most important person in the building; it's quite annoying, even though she is probably the most important. But you didn't get that from me." Macy shortly explained.

"What she said was true though." An annoyed expression decorated the brunette's face at those words. "You can't tell anyone that isn't involved in this project."

"I won't. I swear!" Joe even held up his hand, like he was going to swear it. He hadn't been planning on telling anyone. He had come to like Macy and even big Rob in these few hours.
Don't ask him how or when, but it happened.
With that, Joe was intrigued by the 'new born' on the table and the strange rush of affection he'd felt towards it. Just a little bit more then he was scared of it.

"That's good to hear. Now, is there anything I can explain further, now that you're kind of into the project?" She winked.

The young Lucas thought about that for a second before he shook his head.

"Good. There'll be enough time for questions later, but I think you should return to the hospital now. Before your mother thinks she's got another son gone missing." Macy smiled to herself. "I take from Penny's approval that you can return, if you'd like."

She shot Joe a questioning look. "I'd completely understand if you wouldn't, of course. But I would like it if you did. The Humanoid has shown a strange reaction towards you and I think I'd appreciate a new view on things." The smile on her face was utterly adorable. If not enthusiastic.

"I'd love to stop by some time in the future." Joe grinned at her, feeling as if he were signing a contract. "And you're right. Again." He sheepishly rubbed the back of his head when big Rob chuckled. "I should head back to Kev. See how he's doing. The docs are saying he'll be fine though." Joe wouldn't have left the hospital if that weren't the case.

"I'd tell you to give him my apologies, if I would actually exist in your life."
Both of them smiled at each other at exactly the same time.
He did really like Dr. Macy, Joe concluded.

"It's the gesture that counts." He said and laughed when big Rob grunted; "Got that right, kid."

Then he called Elvis, it was time to go back to reality.

Reality came in the form of none other then his best friend Stella 'fashion-designer-to-be' Malone.

"Joe!" She called, her eyes wide when she spotted him coming out of the hallway towards the laboratory. She had frozen in her step forward, presumably from the elevator.
Joe looked at her in equal surprise and winced, as he realised his promise to 'not-tell-a-soul-that-wasn't-supposed-to-know' was already in danger.
He couldn't lie to his long time cru—…. Scratch that, best friend!

"Oh! Err… Hi Stells. How are you? What are you doing here?" The best defence was always the attack.

"I'm visiting my aunt Lisa. She finally dropped that horrific dream of becoming a cat-masseur and is helping out a friend of hers on the third floor. What are you doing here?" She answered, no hint of dishonesty in her big blue eyes.

Shoot.

"I… am… dog-sitting Elvis."
Lame. Lame. Lame. Lame. Lame.
Joe smiled the brightest smile in his repertoire, hoping it would cover the lie.

"Here?" Stella said, in a tone that clearly said she didn't believe him as she stared at Frankie's dog with a clear 'my Stella-senses are tingling' look. (Stella was partially the reason Joe was so sensitive to truth) Her eyebrow was raised dangerously high.

"Yeah. Elvis he…" The dog decided he was bored with Joe's conversation and wandered off towards Abby-the-desk-girl who secretively started petting him. This gave Joe an idea. "Ran off… luckily the desk-girl found him."
That sounded plausible and Stella's face relaxed. Why would she suspect him of lying anyway, they always told each other everything.

"How's your brother?" She asked, her expression now empathic.

"The doctors say he's okay, but I needed a break from the depression in the hospital, place of miracles or not. I was actually on my way back, care to join?"
He offered her his arm, very gentleman-like and this effectively distracted Stella.
He mouthed a 'thank you' towards Abby and waved as they walked out. He felt sorry for the fact that Stella would probably glare at her behind his back.

They looked like a couple, walking with their dog when they strolled towards the hospital, which was located just a few blocks away.
Stella was thinking about Joe and how adorably weird he was, her aunt and if she was going to keep this job for a change and of Mrs. Lucas, who must be feeling horrible and exhausted, with her oldest son in the hospital and whatnot.

Joe was thinking of his mother too and if she had noticed he'd been gone for so long. (the whole scene in the lab, which seemed to become more unrealistic and far away with every step he took, had absorbed more time then he'd noticed passing) He was thinking of Macy and the fact that he was sure she would like Stella and he was thinking of the Humanoid.
His feelings towards it were still mixed.
There was a part of him which shied away from the faked form of 'life' and the fact that it was way above Joe's knowledge. A part that told him to get as far away from the lab as possible and never return, as it basically screamed: "Dangerous!" with a capital D.

But there was also that softer part that remembered Macy's hopeful eyes as she'd asked him if he would possibly want to return, mainly because of the fact that he had an affect on the boy on the table, but also because she appreciated his thoughts. (Not that he'd had a lot of brilliant remarks in the time he'd spend in the lab, the main part of which he'd been unconscious) But he liked that.
And then, of course, there was that horrifyingly scary and intriguing instinct to protect what Macy had called a 'foetus just out of the womb'.
Maybe because it had Kevin's DNA (and really, was that a good thing, combined with the robot-power?) and something about that triggered his brotherly instincts. Possibly?
Joe didn't know, but like Macy had said; his curiosity was overpowering his sense of self-preservation.

They arrived in the sterile, white environment around half past 2, a little more then seven hours since Joe left the building, and Joe led Stella (Elvis had to stay behind) towards Kevin's room on the second floor.
To his surprise, the room Kevin had been in was empty.

"Excuse me." He asked the nurse that was cleaning. "But where is my brother?"

"Oh!" The nurse reacted, a huge toothpaste-white smile on her face. A little too fake for Joe's taste. "You must be Joe!" She spoke to them like they were six-year-olds. "Your momma told me you'd probably show up here, since you missed your brothers awakening.

Momma, seriously?

… Wait, what?

"He woke up!" Said Stella, her expression saying what Joe felt.

"Yeah, just a few hours ago. He's on the third floor now. Room 483, I could take you there and…"

But they were already gone, leaving the nurse to her cleaning job and angry mutters about 'today's youth'.

The two younglings sped through the hallways, Joe had been here more then enough times (yeah, he was a klutz, he'd learned to live with it and the countless scars) to know the way.

They almost burst through the door that said 483 and Joe nearly screamed at Kevin when he saw him sitting straight up in the hospital-bed. A soft smile on his face as he talked to their mom, his feet pulled up because the sleeping form of Frankie was lying on the end of the bed.

"Kevin! You're awake!"

His brother (and mother and father, who was standing by the window) all turned to him and Kevin smiled hugely. He'd already heard Joe had been the one searching frantically for him and had 'found' him.

"Actually, I'm sleepwalking, but you're close." He said, before his younger brother engulfed him in a hug.

"Please, I'd notice it if you were sleepwalking, I've seen you do it countless of times."

Kevin laughed his sweet, goofy laugh that Joe missed so much in the last couple of days and it made him feel like things were finally a little okay again.
A burden he hadn't known he'd been carrying before seemed to fall of his shoulders as he looked into his brothers hazel eyes, which were sparkling with life's joy once again.
(He also tended to over-exaggerate; he'd learned to live with that too.)

Stella filled Kevin's arms when Joe finally pulled back and found a place on the edge of his mom's chair. Rubbing his hands over his face as his mom reached to softly stroke his back.

"He's back now Joe. Worries are over, they're going to find the…"

"Bastards." Her husband filled in.

"That did this and they're going to regret doing this to Kevin."

She didn't know Joe's worries went a little further then that, because he knew exactly who'd caused the bandages and bruises on his older brother and he knew precisely why.
His brother was special, more special then they'd ever known and he couldn't even tell them, he couldn't tell them why this happened to him, to them; he couldn't tell them what was the reason behind it all; he couldn't tell them anything.

And Joe really disliked this, no matter his feelings towards the N.I.C.H.O.L.A.S. project and Macy, as he looked into his mother's eyes. The sources of his own and the Humanoid's irises.

But they looked peaceful and Joe wasn't about to spoil the mood, not even his own, with his worries. The lab seemed like a far away dream. Or rather; a far away nightmare.
He looked at his best-friend, who was asking Kevin about what happened (apparently his brother had no memories after he'd stepped into his car to pick up Joe) and his mom who was now softly stroking Frankie's hair, the littlest Lucas still sleeping from the exhaustion of waiting, as she listened. He looked at his father's face, which was finally relieved of the stress that had been carved on it for the last couple of days.
He let them all be happy and joined them. This was something he knew, something he liked and something he wanted.
So he wouldn't know what would become of Nick, the humanoid.
Was that really such a bad thing?
At the moment, in this happy bubble with the persons he loved the most on the whole entire world, he didn't think it was.
The only thing he had to do was shove that annoying vision of the boy's calm face out of his mind, locking them up with the strange feelings. That wouldn't be so hard.
Would it?

He stares at the motionless boy on the table. The sedatives will not wear off for another 24 hours, but it doesn't matter. Nothing will matter if this project succeeds. And if his plan succeeds too, then not this company, the naïve doctor or anything legal will own the boy on the table, nobody but him will have the power that lays before him.

If this Humanoid survives, he will be the infamous last piece of the puzzle, the one that is always the hardest to find.

Softly, as if not to disturb this priceless object, he runs his hands through the black curls, identical to the gesture just a few days ago. The eyes are closed and he doesn't know if the key to his plans acknowledges him, but he doesn't care, for it will do exactly as he desires.

It's what it is designed for. It is designed to obey.

He smiles and knows it's not something the Humanoid will often do.

I am once again unable to move. I feel uncomfortable. Something is missing, something important, but I don't know what it is. My programs are searching, but they come out clear every time.
The delicate, small hands of roughly 37.6 degrees Celsius are not present anymore, neither is the slow deep breathing of the other man.
Mostly, it is the presence of the young human I am not able to locate. My system doesn't understand.
The sensors on my head-skin notice movement and I try to start my defence-mechanism. I am once again unable to.
All my programs seem to be disabled. My sensors notice the human retrieving and my joints relax.
My calculations continue, trying to find a way to restart me.
Once more I question; what is happening? Why won't they let me work like I want to?

Hey everybody, I'm back! This was, as promised, the new chapter. I'm fairly pleased and I hope it'll make up for my absence.
Also, if you like. There is a banner for the story in my profile, or you could copy this: twitpic . com / 250tl1 in your bar without the spaces.
And if you'd like to see the New Industrial Laboratories/N.I.C.H.O.L.A.S.-logo, also check my profile or copy this: twitpic . com / 2bx8dr And the season two characters are finally getting to me and since the next chapter is written already (I'll be posting that on Sunday) I can promise that there'll be lots of the JONAS la characters for you lovelies. Next chapter, though there is one hidden in this one too.

And please, if you have constructive criticism, TELL ME! Anything to make my stories better for you awesome readers… ^.^
With love,
Silvereyed Angel.