Chapter 17: Cover Up -or- A Secret's Secret

SCRAN TOWN, KANSAS

Nicholas sat on the porch steps of his house waiting for Chopsuey to return, since it'd been hours since he left with 628, Angel and the newer one he didn't know. It was actually funny, he knew a lot more than he let on but he still had no idea about that experiment. He'd have to remember to ask Chopsuey about her when he got back, for now he needed to take a walk. He walked back to the open shed and sighed, remembering the mess he caused last time.

Just like before, the black haired boy tossed a baseball into the shed. Only this time instead of being met with a wild lawnmower, he heard a scream from inside. His brown eyes narrowed, trying to see who he hit. Out of the shed walked Lani, holding her head and glaring at him.

"What is it with you and throwing things in this shed?!" Lani yelled at him.

"What are you doing here?" Nicholas asked her, very surprised to see she found him.

"What's wrong, Nicky?" Lani smirked. "I can't visit my favorite cousin without a motive?"

"Every cousin's your favorite cousin," Nicholas rolled his eyes.

"True, but not every cousin is my blood relative," Lani laughed. "But you're right, I came her for a few things actually. The SBS is out back and I have the filthy rat prisoner."

"Hamsterviel," Nicholas spat the name. "How'd they let you take him?"

"I bet the Grand Councilwoman Lilo and Stitch could find Sparky's one true place," Lani told him.

"So you cheated using the future?" Nicholas crossed his arms. "We agreed we wouldn't."

"You told Chopsuey, so you're the last person to lecture me about abusing the future," Lani stated matter-of-factually.

She had him there, he figured Chopsuey must have let something slip at some point. Oh well, he didn't tell Chopsuey anything they hadn't agreed on. As long as she was still Lani Alaula or Alex Stark, they didn't need to tell anyone the true future.

"So what else did you what to see me about, cuz?" Nicholas smiled, happy to see his family.

"When I was fixing my daughter -the one you met earlier-, something...Strange happened," Lani told him.

"J.A.V.A.'s M.O.M. program started working again?" Nicholas hoped that was it. "It hasn't been for me lately."

"No, the real Strange paid me a visit," Lani caused her cousin to gasp.

Days ago -or months in outter time-, Lani told 628 the "truth" about the future. The truth might not have been the exact reality of the situation, the two time travelers made sure that they had a story to lean on if the worst should happen. The real Strange appearing wasn't something they expected, which is why they had J.A.V.A. to be the cover for that. The two were so deep in conversation they didn't notice anything around them, or anyone who may have been listening in.

"Strange told me something that may help us, she said to 'watch the skies on Christmas'," Lani told him what the cryptic lady said. "Any ideas what that means?"

"No clue, I don't know everything," Nicholas waved his hands. "But I do know that there's a bunker I built that can hold Hamsterviel. We can keep him away from the cousins and see if the future changes, I hope it does."

"Me too, for Mom's sake," Lani looked down. "Are you sure I can't tell them? Just to make things a bit easier?"

"No!" Nicholas scolded her. "If they knew how close the future really is...Let's just stick with the plan. You're Alex Stark, tell them that if you have to."

"Fine, Nicky," Lani gave up.

"Stop calling me Nicky, Ani!" Nicholas playfully glared at her.

"Its Lani, you pipsqueak," Lani pushed him lightly.

"I know what I said," Nicholas pushed her back.

In the distance, Dr. Hamsterviel had heard the whole thing from the ship. Chopsuey was left in charge of him while Lani talked to Nicholas, though the mohawked experiment paid more attention the ship than the captive. Hearing what they were saying, the hamster-like alien grew curious. Talk about the future would give him an edge on taking over the galaxy, he already had one now on Lani and Nicholas. To make sure he kept it, he had to make his escape somehow.

Thankfully for him, Lani placed him inside a containment capsule as opposed to the hoverpad. Dr. Hamsterviel pushed on the restraint until it rolled him to the ship's computer, which was the worst place for The Galactic Conduct Manual to be at that time. Gazing at the large book, Dr. Hamsterviel formed a plan of escape. When Chopsuey noticed, he unfurled his sub-arms and lunged at the white hamster. The doctor was counting on it, waiting for just the right moment to act.

Chopsuey was too slow to stop Dr. Hamsterviel and instead landed on the floor, with the evil scientist hitting the manual in his leap for freedom. The manual did two jobs at once, not only breaking the case but sending Chopsuey into a daze in the process. Lani once told Angel that the manual would be handy down the road, she was right but it was who it was helpful for that she got wrong. The book was also big enough to let Dr. Hamsterviel reach the controls of the ship, alerting the two human cousins outside of the danger.

"Hamsterviel was listening, wasn't he?" Nicholas stopped fooling around.

"Yep," Lani guessed.

"You left the keys in the ship, didn't you?" Nicholas already knew the answer.

"Yep," Lani was sure of that one.

Chopsuey shook away his dizziness just in time to see Dr. Hamsterviel take control, with the SBS slowly rising as proof. If the ship got to far, who knows what would have happened. He groggily stood behind the chair, turning it around so the doctor could see his glare.

"I wasn't really going to escape with your ship, it was a joke," Dr. Hamsterviel weakly laughed. "Didn't Jumba put a funny bone in you?"

"Nope, must've skipped my series," Chopsuey smiled evilly at him.

With his sub-arms, he grabbed the disguarded handcuffs and tried to place them back on Dr. Hamsterviel. The criminal once again evaded him, giving Dr. Hamsterviel a chance to turn the cuffs on the green experiment. The evil hamster pushed him into his break-away cruiser, launching it directly at Lani and Nicholas. Having enough strength in his being, Chopsuey broke out of the binds and pulled the wheel back -merely sending him slightly above hitting them. It was good enough for the malicious mastermind, he could still get away with their ship.

The SBS flew off faster than Lani could grab it, not even Nicholas had a way of stopping it. The only upside he could find out of it was with the hamster-akin doctor still roaming, the past wouldn't change too serverely. Just so long as the Grand Councilwoman didn't know, they would have another chance to catch him. Lani was sure that no good would happen with Dr. Hamsterviel's escape, since now he knew they were definately lying. Not that anyone would really believe him, if they did trouble would definately follow.

"I have to go, Nicky," Lani threw her head back annoyed. "I've got things to do."

"Alright, don't forget to watch the sky," Nicholas reminded her.

"I'm older than you now, I know what I'm doing," Lani told him. "And by the way..."

Lani turned to her cousin and punched him in the arm, supressing the urge to throw her power into the mix. Nicholas still stumbled back from the impact, clutching his arm in mock pain. He was sure he saw her eyes flash an acid green, making him hope she took care of her "condition" soon.

"...That's for shooting my daughter, you small dummy," Lani smirked. "See you around, cousin."

"Not if I see you first," Nicholas challenged.

Lani's hands began to glow, sending her into the air towards her home. Things would begin to get back to normal with Nicholas, he just had to do one more thing first. He ran up to Chopsuey's cruiser, waiting for the smoke to clear and for his best friend to step away from the wreckage. The ship was going to need repares and Chopsuey was going to need to take it easy, though Nicholas was more of a concern to the experiment than his own wellbeing. Chopsuey brushed away some dust on his fur, walking up to the small boy.

"Nicholas, are you okay?" Chopsuey coughed out the smoke fumes.

"Yay, you're back!" Nicholas smiled innocently. "How was your trip?"

A/N: Lani and Nicholas are my most interresting characters, Nicholas a little more so with the limited screen time I give him. Lani's story about all that trouble in 2099 is true, but most of it -like who she and Nicholas really are- is something I'll only start to cover with Spooky's episode.

Next Time: Before Lani gets to Kauai, three experiments cause more of a problem for the new experiment hunters.