I apologise in advance for the lengthy bit in first person, but I found myself unable to write Stella in third person. She's just not that kind of person.
Here's chapter 18,

In which Joe embraces his cunning side and Stella is thrown in the deep. The very deep.

Déjà vu. Reliving something you did or saw before. Whether in a dream, in a memory or simply in a fantasy, subconsciously. Sometimes it's triggered by sight, sometimes by smell or simply out of nothingness.

Joe knew all of that, knew the definition, but had never really experienced anything like it, but it was coming at him, for him, from all sides.
The needles from his dream, so many weeks ago had found him again, this time in reality. The hated odour of intimidating doctors, sugar-sweet nurses and hospitalized pain penetrated his nose, but this time, it didn't promise healing.
The slow pulsing of something in his elbow, around the point where the knife had cut him. It was all attacking his senses mercilessly. His vision was still black and he was strangely grateful for it. It was like he was submerged in a silken darkness or laying at the bottom of a lake. There was only calmness around him.
Joe, clumsy has he was, or had been, knew this feeling. It was the feeling of a body, maybe a mind, trying to repair itself.

He shuddered when suddenly, something traced over his wrist and towards his elbow, passing his shoulder and finally cupping his jaw.

He tried, he tried so hard to pull away, but he couldn't. All he could do was lay there, at the bottom of his lake. Staring up at the surface. He was strangely content, deciding he would lie here for a little longer, until he felt he was strong enough to swim towards the light. He wasn't strong enough now. He would fight the hand off later.

The darkness around him wavered slightly, as if to soothe him and Joe nearly smiled.

"The drug," a voice whispered, troubled and vague, the something around his jaw grasping it a little harder.

Light pierced through his soothing surroundings, blinding him and forcefully dragging him up. It grabbed him everywhere and it hurt.

He did struggle this time and eventually, with a feeling like he broke through the surface, he let out a gurgling scream and opened his eyes with startled, jerky movement, gasping for air.
Strong hands kept his bucking body down on the bed.

He struggled against them, trying to roll over and to his surprise, they guided him on his side and then he was vomiting the contents of his stomach, or what was left of it, over the side of the bed.

It burned in his mouth as it dripped from his lips and he made a disgusted sound.

"Oh Joseph, poor boy," said the voice again, regretful and this time, Joe's ears perked. Well knowing who it was and immediately feeling the rage surge through his body. Adrenaline in combination with whatever stimulating drug they'd given him gave him the strength to push himself up and turn again, facing the hated, glassed face of Robert Lincoln Coler.

"The menace in your eyes is distasteful," the man told him, his hands folded behind his back, his ever present cane ticking against the sterile white floor.

Joe was really starting to hate that colour. He pulled his legs up, feeling the pull of what was no doubt an IV, but ignored it as he rested his hands between his knees, as if ready to leap of the bed and attack Coler.

The man raised an eyebrow at him, challenging. Seeing what impact the treatment had had on the young boy. Looking for what he might have broken.

Joe only stared at him, too exhausted to do anything else and partially afraid of what Coler might do to him.

"Nice and submissive now, aren't you?" said Colder, sounding pleased, "Finally remembered your place, Joseph?"

Joe closed his eyes and slumped his shoulders. He wasn't ready to fight Coler, wasn't strong enough to fight the man.
He was at an impasse, as his father called it, a limbo, just like down in his mental lake.
He couldn't make himself fight anymore. So he gave in; it was the easiest way. The best way to survive. He was only human.

"No fight left, beautiful," Coler now approached him, once again cupping a hand around Joe's jaw, forcing him to look into the piercing blue eyes he cursed.
The man had no idea. No idea what coursed just beneath the surface.

The man had gotten to know him quite some time ago, when Joe was naïve and, dare he say it, weak. And even back then, how much had Joe really shown him?
How much had he grown, learned, become in this time? He changed, found a piece of himself he'd been missing, grown into the person that he was now.
He was weak now, knocked to his knees. But Coler underestimated him.
Joe was only human, a seemingly broken one.

But, Joseph Lucas thought, as he was helped off the bed by two of Coler's scientist-doctors and dressed in something more decent then the hospital-gown and presented to Coler, with his head down, humans had the amazing ability to heal, hadn't they?

In particular, especially, when they had something to fight for.

So he averted his eyes, gave in and let himself be a shell for a while. A shell with eyes and ears and a sharpened brain.
And a brother with a humanoid/source pair on the way of saving him.

He knew Coler didn't have Nick, nor Kevin, because he would've surely taunted him with it. He would've used them to hurt each other. That much Joe knew of the man.

So he padded along with Coler through the hallways, dressed in scrub-pants and a simple shirt, on sock clad feet. Keeping his eyes and ears open and simply waiting.

He didn't know what would happen, but he was determined to make everything as hard for Coler as he probably could.

~~~~-SCENE CHANGE-~~~~

I couldn't believe it, a coffee-overdose? Seriously, Stella, again?

I moaned as I fluttered open my eyes, grabbing for the side of my bed –or anything else to hold on to— as they adjust to the harsh lightning. I was positive I looked like a raccoon by now, sleeping with eye-shadow is never a good idea.
An unfamiliar scent, coppery and strangely familiar, hit my nose. It made the hairs on the back of my neck rise and I was immediately attentive.

Joe. There was something the matter with Joe.

Memories came rushing back to me, sprung on me like a clawing cat. Joe had been at my door, crying and scared, telling some crazy ass story about the boy in his room being a robot in grave danger and something about Kevin's accident.

From what I remembered, his story was far from coherent, but he was in a serious state of distress when he came to me. Joe was normally fairly composed, aside from the occasional drama-fit. Something had been seriously wrong with him and it made my stomach clench.

Also, there was something wrong with my room. Firstly, because it was horribly messy and secondly, because it wasn't my room!

At that moment, I nearly had a heart attack as I realised it was, in fact, Joe's room I was lying in.
Joe's bed, I had been sleeping in, to be precise.

I looked around; sitting up straight in the bed I had personally designed for my best friend when they moved to the firehouse when Frankie was born.

The window to my right facing the alley was broken, a soft breeze floating into the room. Most of the curtains, my sown curtains, were ripped from their rings and the carpet was torn, curling up and showing— oh heavens, bullet holes in the floor.

I let out a shaky breath when I realised where the smell came from; it was blood.
I pinched myself, looking away from the sizable stains and noting all the messed up, broken pieces of furniture.
Kevin's favourite chair, Joe's workout-whatever-machine. Even one of the fire poles was dented and bend.

"Stella, good lord, you're awake!" I nearly started to cry when I heard Kevin's familiar voice call out to me as he walked into the room, stepping over the blood-stains as if he didn't see them at all.

"Kevin," I croaked out, when I finally found my voice, "Thank god indeed, how long have I been sleeping? Where's Joe and what happened here?"
I send another disbelieving glance over the room. It looked like there had been a fight going on, or someone had been desperately trying to find something.

Oh god. What had Joe been hiding!

I stared into Kevin's face with quite some desperation, apparently, because he soothingly brushed my cheek with the back of his hand, sitting on the bed with me.

"You've been out for quite some time, it's around eight in the morning, I believe," he said softly, sounding more serious then I'd ever heard Kevin speak.

"I'm really glad you're awake, because we have to get moving soon, before our parents and Frankie get home," he mumbled, as if he weren't speaking directly to me, but more to himself, We have to go get Joe and I rather not explain this to mom before we do, that or the reason why we're doing this. Well at least we have someone to blame…"

I blinked at him. I knew vague was a part of Kevin, but this was a whole different kind of vague.
Admittedly, I didn't knew the guy that well. It had always been mostly Joe I hung out with, but I expected an animal reference to interfere and make everything normal again.

"C'mon, Nick said you should meet him," he said, making to leave the bed and suddenly panic rose in my chest.

"Meet who? Where are you going?" I asked, distressed.

Kevin simply stared at me for a couple of seconds, his hair casting a shadow over his face as it hung limply around his cheekbones. His expression dead-serious and completely weirding me out. I was starting to get scared.

"Stella, do you trust me?" Kevin grabbed both of my hands in his, staring at me.
I considered it, looked at him and noticed the malice in his eyes. Saw the lack of the usual smile and sparkle.
He was serious. Something was definitely going on, something bad at that.

Because the wrecked bedroom didn't give it away at all…

I nearly smiled when I realised that was something Joe could've said.

I raised one of my hands to gently rub Kevin's cheek, feeling the slight stubble there. I frowned, unbelieving that Kevin and his OCD-tendencies would let that happen when things weren't as dead serious as he made them out to be.

If you'd asked me a day ago, Kevin Lucas would've been one of the last persons on my list to trust in an unknown, possibly dangerous situation.
Now though, looking at him, without his books and bright, childish smiles, I did.

"I trust you," I told him, sincerely, "What is happening?"

Kevin nodded, rising to his feet and pulling me with him and looking at me with an intense look.

"You should know that I trust you too, Stella," He told me, with a tone so sad and determined that it nearly broke my heart, "Though we haven't been exactly close during all these years, I consider you a sister," he rubbed the palm of my hands with his thumbs, taking a breath, "My brother might be a dickhead sometimes, and quite dense at that, but he picked you as his friend and confidant. I'm not going to doubt his judgement, not now, now that he needs us more then ever. We need to be able to trust each other for this. For him."

I was quite taken back by his speech, bud nodded, dumbfounded. The feeling of dread when I realised again that something was wrong with Joe gave a sour taste to my mouth.

"Good," the eldest Lucas said, again, "now, we're faced with quite a situation here and I believe Joe has told you a bit about it, when he came to find you, hasn't he?"

I cocked my head, not quite nodding, but not shaking it either. He he'd told me a little, but nothing I understood.

And just to emphasise Kevin's agonising calmth; 'quite a situation' was kind of an understatement. The whole room was wrecked, like some kind of massive gang fight had taken place in it. Had it been the boy, the one Joe had called a… humanoda?

"You remember when I was attacked?" Kevin questioned suddenly, pulling me towards the stairs. I followed hesitantly, not letting go of his hand like it was some sort of anchor as I answered, going over the memories again. Joe had gone through a lot of emotions; I remember lots of dark colours on my mood board.

"Yes, everyone was looking for you and you came back scraped and with no memory of the event," I answered, not about to play dumb blonde at a moment like this.

Kevin halted on a step, looking back at me.
"I still don't know anything; it's a black hole in my memory, but I did find out what happened," I raised my eyebrows at him and he just smiled at the familiar gesture.

"Or rather," He continued, "Joe did."

"Joe did?" I repeated, "When?"
When had all of this happened, when had Joe gotten involved with things like this? When had my silly, boyish Joe turned into that man I didn't recognise?

"A day or so after they found me, give or take a few," was my answer, "We think."

"We?"

"Yes, we," A soft voice spoke up when we walked down.
My head shot op sharply, meeting familiar brown eyes and for a second, I thought it was Joe.

My eyes widened before they narrowed at the boy standing at the bottom of the staircase. He was most definitely not Joe. It was that Nick-boy that caused all of this.

"We think Joe came in contact with Macy Misa a day or so after Kevin's attack." He said, nodding at Kevin, who, to my increasing annoyance, nodded back.

I glared at the youngster in front of me; this was who Joe had chosen over me, curly hair, so like Kevin, with Lucas eyes etched in his face. Lean and tall, with a radiant calmness that irritated me. I knew, somewhere in the back of my mind that my jealousy was irrational, but I couldn't help feel a pang of green envy at his saddened face. He knew what was going on, where I didn't. I wanted to yell at him, but decided to play along.

"Misa," I repeated, it rung a bell somewhere, "Who's she?"

"My creator," The boy said.

I gaped at him, conveniently forgetting how unattractive it looked when I gaped.
I pulled my hand out of Kevin's and crossed my arms, glaring at him.

"I want an explanation." I demanded, not yet ready to believe that that thing was in fact actually a thing.

The boy raised an eyebrow at me, seemingly equally annoyed, "We are trying to give you one, and it might be convenient for you to listen." It was right about the first emotion on his face since we walked into the room.

"Macy Misa, pardon me, Dr. Misa is the granddaughter of Professor Misa, the inventor of the N.I.C.H.O.L.A.S. project."

Kevin interrupted both me and Nick, when I opened my mouth to question the name, "It means New Industrial Clone and Humanoid Organisation for the Living, Androids and Silicones."
I closed my mouth and Nick the 'Humanoid' continued with his story, though I didn't get how this related to Joe.

"In short, Professor Misa created the blue-prints and plans for what reached its climax in Dr. Misa's capable hands. He combined nature and technology in ultimate creatures he called Humanoids. His theory claimed these creatures would help solve the century-long struggle between technology and your mother earth and help the people of earth in their lives. They wouldn't get sick, they wouldn't need much sleep or food, they wouldn't get traumatised, they would be like ordinary citizens, but stronger, while still being dependant on the human race. They would help better the world."

I huffed, "Quite the ambitious plan."

Nick shot me a sharp look and I could swear he nearly smiled.
"Exactly."

In his pause, I took another look around, even sniffing the air, but the living room and kitchen looked untouched and messy as ever. Apparently, only the upstairs area had been partially destroyed.
Curious.

"The Misa's needed money for their project and found their hail in Robert Lincoln Coler, CEO of the New Industrial Laboratories, under the impression that it was a governmental organisation and completely legal."

"It wasn't," I guessed.

"No, Mr. Coler had his own plan, but it was still convenient for the Misa's at that time. His partnership gave them money and a place to research and experiment with their plans. It wasn't easy, as you guessed. Technology and life-tissue don't go well together and it wasn't until after the Professor's death that Dr. Misa found they needed a special kind of DNA to mix with the robot body they'd created together."

"How do you know all of this?" I questioned, quite rudely, but my head was spinning with all the information thrust upon me. Would you blame me?

"Macy uploaded it into my databases."

I was left speechless, staring at the boy, still not quite believing what he was saying. Was he, actually a…
I shook my head.

"The scientist asked the CEO to find the DNA for her and he did…" the boy trailed off, glancing at Kevin, who picked up where he'd left off.

"He found it in me."

Ah. Wow. Okay. That was why they'd attacked him? To take his DNA?

"As you can tell, Coler isn't exactly the kindest type," the boy said bitterly, drawing away from us, "Hurry up, please, Kevin, we need to get a move on," he ordered quietly, wandering back to the living room, out of my sight.

Kevin took a deep breath and I noticed the bags beneath his eyes and wondered if he'd slept at all last night.

"They took my DNA when they kidnapped me and Macy used it to grow the tissue needed for the Humanoid prototype," he continued, "And it was a success, as you can see," he gestured towards where Nick had disappeared, "She created Nick."

"Nick was created out of your DNA!" This story kept getting stranger with the minute.

"Yes," Kevin affirmed, not unaffectionally.

I leaned back, surveying him and the gentle look in his eyes with slight suspicion; he cared about this boy, already and I'd seen the same kind of look in Joe's eyes, right before I barged into their little moment yesterday.

God it felt like so much longer.

"Either way," he said, scratching at his head, "Joe somehow got in contact with that Dr. Misa, in the early stages of the project. Nick has recollections of him when he was in development."
I scrunched my nose, it all sounded so scientifical.
But it did link some puzzle pieces in my mind.

"So that's why he was gone all the time after your… abduction, isn't it?" I exclaimed.
I hadn't been that far off when I'd thought he met another woman. I didn't like the hearings of this doctor person one bit.

"He helped activate Nick and because of the bond they'd already formed, according to Nick, the Humanoid-doctor let him help them, but some kind of accident with Coler's daughter stopped that. The doctor went missing and Coler, the CEO, himself took over the project. For some reason, he let Joe help him, too. Nick suspects it was because of the bond again, but we don't know that for sure."

They'd obviously been talking this over while I was asleep.

"So he's been helping the evil CEO?" I was confused now.

"Sort of, yes," Kevin confirmed, "But not really, as well, he just watched Coler's personal scientists test Nick and tried to convince Coler that he was doing it wrong."

"Wrong, how could the boss of that damn project do it wrong?" I said, annoyed, crossing my arms over my chest again.

Kevin shot me a look and I closed my mouth, before he continued.

"Because he didn't know everything. He didn't have all the information. Dr. Misa, wherever she is, hasn't told him."

Strong woman, I gave her that, but I kept silent, still didn't like her.

"So, Joe tried to convince Coler to approach things differently, the way Ms. Misa had shown him and eventually managed to get Coler's permission to take Nick home."

The timeline was starting to catch up with present time.

"That's basically where you came in," Kevin concluded as well, "And when Joe went after you, Nick and I were attacked by what we assume were Coler's men. They were after something Nick refers to as 'the Key' though I'm still not quite sure what that means."

From what I heard, they knew very little altogether.

"Nick fought all of them off,"

I stopped Kevin with frantic waves of my arms, "Wait, so it was him upstairs! He seriously fought…."

"Eight men," Kevin supplied helpfully.

"Eight men off on his own?" My eyes were probably bulging out of their raccoon surroundings.

Kevin nodded and I once again looked at the seemingly undamaged room, remembering the wreckage upstairs, "And you saw this?"

"No, I was unconscious," A fait blush tainted Kevin's cheek when I raised my eyebrow.

"But Joe did," he hastily assured me, "and it scared him. That's why he ran off to you," Kevin trailed off and I caught him looking at me expectantly.
Ah, he wanted me to fill in the blanks now. Okay, sure, whatever.

I sighed; "Joe, I thought he was coming to say sorry, in his usual awkward Joe-fashion,"
The corners of Kevin's mouth pulled, but he managed to keep a straight face.

"But he was sobbing on his knees when I opened the door and I let him inside, of course, how could I not?" I started to pick the bits of hazed memory from my mind. It scared me how much of it was pretty much blank.

I had wanted to yell at him, before I saw the tears. I felt bad for that now. As I always did after we fought.

Why had I been angry at him again? It seemed so stupid now. Now that I knew what he'd been doing, why he'd been busy.
Except that it was all still too weird to wrap my head around.

"He told me his brother, his new brother was a robot that was the reason Kevin– you had been in the hospital and that he was in danger but that it was so much stronger then he thought it was and that it was dangerous and I shouldn't come near it," I summed up, doubting my own words. Wasn't Joe supposed to have a bond with that robot-person?

"I scared him," yeah, that person, "When I fought off Coler's men, I scared him off. He was terrified of me."

And cue sympathetic feelings for the robot.

Nick's head was ducked, as if he were ashamed of himself, making me want to reach out to him. His fists were clenched overly tight and shaking, poor thing.

I mentally slapped myself, no time for sentimental feelings right now. To the point.

"He mumbled some more things but…" I tried to go on, but somewhere around that point my memory went blank, "I don't remember much more. Is that all?"

Nick and Kevin shared a look and I immediately felt suspicion creep up on me.

"What?"

Kevin sighed, but Nick was the one that answered; "There's one more thing, follow me."

Both of them walked ahead of me, to their… Kevin's parent's bedroom. Shoulder to shoulder, they blocked my view completely.

"Guys?" I asked pathetically, running a hand through my hair nervously.

Kevin sighed, "You know why you blacked out, Stella?"

I swallowed, "No."

Nick tensed when he walked into the bedroom, holding open the door for me with a dark expression on his face.
His eyes weren't so familiar anymore, tinted bluish around the edges and it scared me.

"That's because of him," he pointed to the chair next to the bed.

I gasped, slapping my hand in front of my mouth as I recognised the tied-up person, feeling Kevin's hands around my upper arms, supporting me when I threatened to drop to the ground.

"Ben!"

To be continued…

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