"Emily?" Walter asked as he walked up to the hologram of Emily.

The hologram of Emily just looked at Walter. "No Walter, I'm not the real Emily. I happen to be the A. I. program she made. The reason why I sound and look like her is because she put a piece of her conscious in me. You can still call me Emily if you want though." She said.

Walter just gave a small frown but soon then discarded. "Figures Emily would make something like this." He said with a small smile.

"Yes it's like we're talking to the real Emily right now. This program is so much like her it's like I can feel her spirit coming from it." Alistair said with a smile.

The hologram of Emily just looked at Alistair for a second and turned to Walter and Lincoln. "Anyway I assume you're here to activate the second stage of the nanites?" She asked.

"You assume right Emily." Alistair replied.

"Well it's not that simple." Emily said as she looked at Lincoln. "Lincoln could you please leave me alone with Walter and Alistair for a little bit? If you want you can watch some TV in the room down the hall."

"Okay." Lincoln said as he walked down the hall and into the room with the TV. About a half hour later Walter and Alistair walked into the room with Emily appearing right next to them. Lincoln just looked at them and asked "So is it time to activate the second stage?"

Walter just sighed and said "It's not that simple Lincoln. You see Emily took a lot of precautions with the second stage of the nanites. She made it where the program can only be unlocked by three keys but that where it gets a little complicated. Lincoln did you happen to notice those three buildings?"

"Yeah." Lincoln replied.

"Well apparently each building was designed by a member of my team. You see Emily got the feeling that Grant might figure out about the nanites so in order to make sure he couldn't unlock it just in case he got a hold of you she gave each member of my team a key and had them make a building. She helped with the designs as they made the trials."

"I take it you didn't know about this?" Lincoln asked.

Walter just rolled his eyes and replied "No. She basically swore them to secrecy. They knew what she would do to them if they told anyone."

"Oh Walter you make it sound like I'm some sort of scary monster." Emily said with a smile.

"They saw you beat the snot out of me on a daily basis. Believe me they're more afraid of you than Alistair and me put together." Walter replied.

"Well maybe if you weren't so dense all the time then I wouldn't have to hit you." Emily replied.

"Dense? What do you mean by that?" Walter asked.

Before an argument could begin Alistair interrupted them. "Excuse me but we're here to talk to Lincoln not reminisce about old times so Walter continue explaining." He said.

"Yeah sorry about that Alistair. Anyway Lincoln in order to unlock the second stage you need to get the keys first but that also means undergoing the trials in each building. Now the first building you'll start with belong to Agent Jerry Mitchell A.K.A. The Trap Master. He is an expert at setting traps let alone detecting them. He uses his instincts and senses as well as reflexes when he's in the battlefield. He also carries a special weapon with him where ever he goes invisible wire. He keeps it on him at all times can set it without anyone noticing. He's able to set it while he talks. You see Jerry loves to move his hands while he talks so to anyone normal he's just making hand gestures but to us he could be setting one of his traps. The next building belongs to Agent Nick Williams A.K.A. Nick the Swift. Nick is one of the fastest men alive. He is able to take down opponents without being seen by them. With him it's all about speed and agility. The final building belongs to Agent Jack Samson A.K.A. Samson the Strong. Samson happens to be one of the strongest men in the world. Just one punch can break down a solid steel wall and that's only at 1% of his strength." Walter explained as he presented a list to Lincoln. "Now here's your training schedule. In about two hours we get started. Now from what I heard about Jerry's building he set up three challenges that you need to pass before you can take his him he probably has it set up with his invisible wire. Your goal is to get through whatever obstacles he has set up without setting them off. I can also assure you that all the traps are nonlethal. You'll be under a time limit when you take a challenge so if you fail or run out of time then you'll not only have to do it over again but you'll also go through some extra training sessions I set up. Also the training that I'm going to be putting you through is a lot more serious and harder than the training I gave you earlier. Knowing this do you still want to continue?"

Lincoln just looked Walter straight in the eyes and said "Yes."

Walter just gave a smile and said "Very well then. Alistair and me have to go over a few things first before we can start so take the time to go over the schedule." Walter then left the room with Alistair walking out with him.

Emily however stayed in the room. She just looked at Lincoln and couldn't help but smiled. "Is it okay if I talk to you for a little bit?" She asked.

"That's fine." Lincoln said as he looked at her. "I'm really not sure what I should call you."

"You don't have to call me Mom since you already have one. I mean I would love it if you did but that's only if you're comfortable with it. You can just call me Emily." She said as she then asked. "So how is it with your home? Are you happy?"

Lincoln just smiled. "Yeah I'm happy. I really love my family. I mean we do have a problems every now and then but we usually work it out." He said.

"Why don't you tell me about them?" Emily asked. Lincoln then spent his time telling Emily everything about his family. From all his sisters to his parents. He told her about his life in the Loud house and certain problems that pop up even the one he had with Lynn. After hearing about what happened with Lynn Emily asked "How do you feel about Lynn now?"

"I know I should be mad at her but I can't be. She was there for me when I was just a baby. She played with me and kept me company. In a way she was my first friend. I could never hate her. I mean I know how she is with sports and that she forgot the promise she made with me but I don't hate her for it. I mean I could remind her about the promise but knowing her she'll start blaming herself and probably give up sports and I don't want that for her. I want her to be happy no matter what because to me she's my favorite sister."

Emily just looked at Lincoln and smiled. "I think the first thing you should do when you see her again is hug her and tell her you forgive her. Let her know that no matter what she does to you that you'll always be her brother and love her no matter what. Now I'm telling you this because I get the feeling she's blaming herself for everything that's happening and she needs to see you say that you forgive her."

"That's gonna to be the first thing I do when I see her again." Lincoln said as he heard a knock at the door. He looked to see it was Walter.

"Lincoln I got some food set out for you. Go ahead and eat it then we'll get started." He said. Lincoln left the room as Walter just looked at Emily. "I know you're just a program but I swear it's like I'm talking to the real deal. You must of have really enjoyed talking to Lincoln."

"I didn't just enjoy it Walter. I loved it. I'm so glad he has a good home and family." Emily said as Walter just gave an annoyed groan. Emily hearing that just looked at him. "I take it you have your own opinion of them?" She asked.

"Oh you bet I do. Don't get me wrong there are days when he's happy and that's fine with me but then there are the days when he has it rough and when he has those days I just really want to grab him and skip town. Granted I know what I promised you but when I look at him I see you and it pisses me off I can't help him."

"The life of a boy with ten sisters is not an easy one."

"No it isn't."

"I take it that there are some sisters that you're not fond of."

"Oh you got that right."

"I'm curious who?"

"It's just a small handful I'm not fond of. They mostly realize what they did wrong but the one I really don't like is Lynn. I've seen everything she puts him through and it pisses me off." Walter said as he looked at his watch. "I better go check on Lincoln and get him started." Walter then left the room as Emily just disappeared.

TWO DAYS LATER

Lincoln had just finished the last of Jerry's challenges and was ready for the trial. "Well that takes care of the challenges so let's get the trial started." Lincoln said to Walter who was going over the footage from the challenges.

"Yeah I say you're ready for the trial but you're gonna have to wait until tomorrow for it." Walter said as he turned to face Lincoln.

"Why can't I take it now?" Lincoln asked.

"Because the only one who can give you the trial is Jerry himself and he will be here first thing in the morning. So I suggest you continue your training exercises." Walter replied.

"So I have to wait for this Jerry guy to show up tomorrow in order to take the trial? What can you tell me about him?" Lincoln asked.

"Well you see Jerry is quite a character. You'll know everything about him the minute you see him but I will give you a piece of advice. Don't underestimate him." Walter said in a serious tone. "Now come with me. It's time to spar."

"Okay." Lincoln said as he followed Walter.

THE NEXT DAY

Lincoln was currently eating breakfast with Walter when Emily suddenly appeared. "Jerry's here." She said.

"Let him in." Walter replied as he got up and went to the hall. "In here Jerry!" He shouted.

A few seconds later Jerry walked into the room. He just gave a smile and said. "Hey there Walter." Walter just gave a grunt while Jerry then looked at Emily. "Emily it's so good to see you again! When Alistair told us about the A.I. program you made it was a little hard for us to believe but then again we knew what you were capable of so it wasn't that much of a surprise."

"It's nice to see you again Jerry." Emily said.

"Oh by the way. Alistair told me to tell you that he will be bringing the supplies you asked for tomorrow."

"Supplies? What supplies?" Walter asked.

"Oh I just asked Alistair if he could get me a few things. It wasn't much." Emily replied.

"You know you could of told me." Walter said.

"I didn't want to be a bother since you were busy with Lincoln." Emily replied.

While Walter and Emily continued their banter Lincoln just looked at Jerry. He knew he had see him before but couldn't remember that's when it hit him. He got up and walked towards Jerry. "You! I remember you now! You were the guy to that told me I should enter the Little Miss Cutie Pie Pageant! You told me I was sure to win since the judges would think it's cute for a boy to enter that's how you won you said! Well here's a news flash for you! I didn't win!" Lincoln shouted.

Jerry just shifted his eyes towards Walter while Walter had his hand to the back of his head. "Yeah about that Lincoln we sort of had a hand in that." Walter said trying to ignore the glare Emily was giving him.

"What do you mean by that?" Lincoln asked.

"I would like to know that too." Emily said.

"Well you see when we found out Jerry gave Lincoln the idea to enter the Little Miss Cutie Pie Pageant we had to act fast. We couldn't allow him to win because then his face would be in the news and we couldn't risk Grant finding out where he was. So we sort of blackmailed the judges into changing their minds to vote for someone other than Lincoln." Walter replied.

Lincoln just gave Walter a stunned look. "So let me get this straight. You blackmailed the judges into voting for someone else and that's why I lost?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah pretty much."

"I knew I was robbed!" Lincoln shouted while shaking his fist.

"Lincoln you have to understand we couldn't risk Grant finding you. We had to keep you safe at all costs." Walter said as he then looked at Jerry. "Plus Jerry didn't tell you what happened after Jerry won the pageant when he was a kid."

"What do you mean?" Lincoln asked.

"Go ahead and tell him Jerry." Walter replied with a smirk.

"I don't want to." Jerry said in a whiny tone.

"Tell him now or so help me I will make sure you're a judge at the next pageant!" Walter shouted.

Jerry got down on his knees and started begging "NO ANYTHING BUT THAT!" He screamed.

"Then tell him!"

Jerry just looked at Lincoln and mumbled out quietly "I was beat up."

Walter just growled and roared out "LOUDER!"

"I WAS BEAT UP!" Jerry cried out.

"Huh?" Lincoln said with a confused look.

"The other contestants didn't like the fact that a boy won the pageant so they decided to teach me lesson. I never forget it their angry looks. My blood on their gowns and gloves not to mention THEY TOOK MY TIARA!" Jerry screamed out.

"And because they did that Jerry now has a fear of pageant queens. You should also know that little brat Lindsey Sweetwater was planning beating you up if you did win. She managed to convince the other contestants to help her with teaching you a lesson." Walter said as he looked at Jerry who was on the floor crying.

"Okay Walter I see where you're coming from. I get why you blackmailed the judges plus I live with Lola so I know how she can get when she's angry." Lincoln said as he gave out a shudder. "Plus it looks like I dodged a bullet." He said as he pointed to Jerry.

"THEY ALSO TOOK MY ROSES!" Jerry cried out.

Walter just gave a groan. "Okay Jerry crying time is over. Get up."

"No!" Jerry yelled out.

Walter just gave another growl but before he could say anything Emily walked up. "Allow me Walter." She said as she kneeled down to Jerry. "Okay Jerry it's time for you to get up." She said in a nice tone but then said "Otherwise I will make you get up and don't think because I'm a hologram I can't get you up." in a soft but scary tone.

Hearing her say that Jerry Immediately stood up. "Okay then let's get this trial started!" He said.

"Before we start I was wondering if you could show me something Jerry." Lincoln said.

"And what's that?" Jerry asked.

"Well Walter told me about how you use invisible wire and how you are able to set traps just by moving your hands and I was wondering if you could give me a demonstration?"

"Sure thing kid. Go get a drink and set it on the table."

"Okay." Lincoln said as he went to get a drink. When he was done setting it on the table he said "Alright the drink is on the table."

Jerry then turned to Emily. "Hey there Emily you still look great after all these years." He said as he pointed his hands toward her like a gun and made a clicking sound with his tongue.

"Oh Jerry you say the nicest things." Emily said as Walter just gave a groan and rolled his eyes.

Jerry then pulled his hand back causing the drink on the table to go flying into his hand. "And that's how I do it." He said as he took a drink.

"Wow! That was amazing! Thank you for showing me." Lincoln said.

"Yeah no problem. I'm gonna go get set up for the trial. Come to the building when your ready." Jerry said as he then left the room.

TEN MINUTES LATER

Lincoln made his way to Jerry's building. When he got there he took the elevator to the final floor. As soon as he got off it he went to the room ahead. He saw a door and a TV next to it. The TV then turned on and on it was Jerry. "Hey there Lincoln! So here it is my trial. It's real simple you need to get to me and hit me. Beyond this door is a corridor filled with twists and turns as well as my traps. If you as so much as get hit by one of my traps you fail and you'll have to wait two days until you can take my trial again. Now you have an hour to get to me starting now."

Lincoln went in as the door then opened. "The sooner I pass this trial the sooner I can go home." He said as he started walking slowly down the corridor. Making sure to avoid the invisible wire set up there. As he stepped over a wire that was set her then heard Jerry's voice shout out.

"Oh come on Lincoln you can be a little quicker than that. Here let me help you." Jerry shouted.

Suddenly the wire behind Lincoln went off causing bags of sand to fall from above. Lincoln started running making sure to avoid the wires. As soon as he in the clear he shouted "How were you able to do that?"

"Just because I'm over here doesn't mean I can't set them off." Jerry shouted.

"I'm going to pass this trial today no matter what! So if you think you can stop me then go ahead and try!" Lincoln shouted.

"Oh I love a good challenge!" Jerry shouted with glee. Lincoln then stepped up his game moving a little faster but be wary to his surroundings. Jerry would occasionally set of a trap which Lincoln would narrowly avoid. Even the traps that make it impossible to pass were no match for Lincoln as he would time the right chance to go through it. Eventually he found himself in front of Jerry. "I have to say I'm rather impressed. I'm curious how did you manage to avoid my traps?" Jerry asked.

"I live in a home with ten sisters. Believe me when I say this is nothing compare to that." Lincoln replied.

"Noted. But the real question is how are you going to get to me now? I mean you probably guessed that there are wires right in front of me making it very hard for you to get through and even with the chance that you do get through you still have to hit me which isn't going to be easy." Jerry said.

Lincoln just smiled and said "That's what you think Jerry."

Suddenly the traps in front of Jerry went off causing a huge cloud to form from some of the sand that was set there. Jerry then heard several of his other traps going off confusing him since he didn't set them off. Jerry was getting confused and worried. "Oh this isn't good. Walter is going to kill me if something happens to him. Just what is going on?"

MEANWHILE WITH WALTER

Walter was currently watching the trial from a room in the main building with Emily. "What the heck?" Walter said to himself as all the traps were just going off with out any reason. "Emily can you back up the footage to when Lincoln was talking to Jerry?" He asked

"Of course I can Walter." Emily replied as she played back the footage.

As Walter watched the footage he noticed something. "Wait! Go back a little. Stop!" Walter just stared and then said "Okay go back further. Stop!" Walter just looked at the footage as a small smirk appeared on his face. "Okay go back a little bit further. Stop!" Walter stared at what he was looking at and started laughing.

"What's so funny Walter?" Emily asked.

"Lincoln passed and Jerry hasn't even realized it yet let alone he fell into a trap Lincoln made." He said.

BACK WITH JERRY

Jerry was getting frantic seeing that Lincoln was in front of him as the sand cloud cleared. He needed to find out why his traps started going off without him setting them off. He grabbed one of the wires in front of him and noticed something. "Hey this isn't one of my wires. This is an ordinary trip wire. Where did this come from?" He asked as he then felt someone tap his shoulders. Turning around he saw it was Lincoln and before he could say anything Lincoln punched so hard in the left side of his face that it made him turn around. "Drinks are on me laddie!" Was the last thing Jerry said before he passed out.

Lincoln just looked at Jerry as he heard Walter's voice coming from an intercom. "Congratulations Lincoln. You passed the first trial!" Walter said.

However Lincoln was just looking at Jerry who was still passed out. "Is he okay?" Lincoln asked.

"Yeah he's fine. He should be getting up soon." Walter replied.

Jerry began to groan as he then proceeded to get up. "How long was I out?" He asked.

"About a minute." Walter replied.

"Yahoo! That's a new record! It totally beats out your score of knocking me out for twenty seconds!" Jerry cried out.

Walter just gave a groan and said "Jerry just give Lincoln the key and bring him back up. I have to get something Lincoln needs for Nick's building ready."

"Yeah I will." Jerry said as he then looked at Lincoln and said "But before I give you the key I have to know something. How did you get behind me?"

"Well since I went through the challenges you had set up I pretty much knew how to avoid them but I had a feeling you would still be able to set them off. I also knew that you would probably have a bunch of traps in front of you making it very unlikely to get to you and if I did manage to get to you that you would make it very hard to hit you. So I decided to set up my own wires."

"Wait a minute you set up your own wires? How did you manage to do that? I didn't even see you." Before Jerry could finish his sentence he paused and remembered that Lincoln moved his hand when he was right in front of him. "You little brat! You tricked me!"

Lincoln just gave a chuckle. "Yeah I wanted to see how you set up your traps so I had you show me a demonstration, it's a good thing I'm a good observer and a quick learner, and then when I was passing through you traps I was laying my own wires on to yours. It's a good thing Luan showed me how to make and lay a good trip wire."

"That's cute and all but that still doesn't explain how you got behind me." Jerry said.

Lincoln just gave a sly smile and said "Well I remember Walter telling me that Emily helped design the building while you were busy making the trials so I sort of had a feeling that she would have made a way or two to get to you. When I was avoiding your traps I noticed a vent but I also knew that I couldn't use it since you were on your guard so when I got to you I laid one of my own wires and then set it off. I knew it would distract you as I circled back to the vent but also made sure to set off the other traps so you wouldn't here me coming. I am so glad that Lucy taught me how to climb vents."

"That still doesn't tell me how you got behind me!" Jerry shouted.

Lincoln just gave a sigh and pointed to the ceiling "Look above you." He said.

Jerry looked to see that there was an open vent and realized that he got tricked and trapped. He just then started laughing. "Oh man I can't believe it! I actually got trapped!" he said as he made his way to the elevator he took down and placed his hand on a small scanner next to it. After the scanner was done scanning his hand he then said "I, Agent Jerry Mitchell, acknowledge that Lincoln has passed my test." A small compartment then opened next to the scanner. Jerry reached into it and pulled out a small key. "Okay let's go back. We can take my elevator."

As Lincoln and Jerry got into the elevator Lincoln turned to Jerry. "Is there a reason you act this way?" He asked.

Jerry just gave a small smile. "Lincoln what do you see when you turn on the news?" He asked.

"Besides boring news and weather reports it's mostly bad news." He replied.

"Exactly. You see in this world we mostly see the bad instead of the good. I act this way because I want to at least get people to smile through the tough times. I call it being myself others would call it a coping mechanism. When you're an Elite you need a coping mechanism."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well you see Lincoln being an Elite can take a lot out of you. It's not bad at first but as mission by mission go by you start to notice and wonder. What if I could of got there sooner? What if I could of saved them? That sort of thing. Everyone of us has our own way of coping. Walter however was the worst. He would basically go on a rampage destroying the gym even go to the gym Nick uses and would just break everything. He would always want to spar with us and would always go all out. We didn't know how to deal with him luckily for us Emily knew how. When she found out about us it was during one of Walter's rampages. She demanded to see Walter so she could yell at him but when she saw him she realized he was hurting. She just walked up to him not even his violent temper was enough to scare her off but just between you and me she has the most violent temper of all and she would just hug him. She would let him know it wasn't his fault and he did everything he could. He would just calm right down afterwards. From then on we would call her whenever he was a mess. We even gave her a nickname: The Lion Tamer." As soon as Jerry was done talking the elevator door opened and they then made their way back to the main building.

When they got to the control room they saw Walter and Emily standing there. "You two took your time." Walter said.

"Well we were just talking." Lincoln said as he handed Walter the key.

Walter took it and inserted it into one of tree keyholes that were in a panel. "One down two to go." He said as he then turned to Lincoln. "Okay Lincoln your next building is Nick's. Now like Jerry he has three challenges you need to pass before you can take his trial. Now his challenges are speed trials you need to pass each challenge before a certain time but it's not that simple. You need to wear these." Walter then pulled out four bracelets. "These are special weights that you need to wear at all time until you pass Nick's trial. Each time you pass a challenge you will wear a new set of weights each heavier than the last. I also have a new training schedule for you. Now any questions?"

"No." Lincoln replied.

"Okay then." Walter said as he then placed the weights on his wrists and ankles.

"Well seeing how my job is done I might as well head back to the shop." Jerry said as he then left the room.

TO BE CONTINUED