11

"I've got bad news." He said as soon as he answered.

"What?" I panicked.

"I was unable to beat my high score, thank you for nothing." He scoffed.

"Oh you're welcome." I had to laugh at his level of enthusiasm.

"So what's wrong this time?" He asked on a more serious note.

"Nothing is, I just dont feel so good especially right after my girlfriend broke up with me. Goodness knows how devastated I am." I sighed.

"Want me to help you feel better?" He asked.

"Yeah, I guess so. I dont want to talk to any of my friends, they wouldn't understand." It was the truth. None of them fancied our relationship that well.

"Okay, listen to me sing maybe?" He suggested.

"Maybe." I sat on the bed and waited for him to work whatever magic he thought he had to offer.

"You are literally funny." He chuckled, it was clear he had not expected a positive reply from me.

*

It was the next day at school. I told my mum not to bother with dropping me off. I insisted she watched over my little brother and sister instead, preferring to go with the bus today.

I was old enough to own my car but I was scared of the road, the fear of killing someone with my car haunted me and I doubted I would ever get over it.

The school felt a lot more empty than it had the previous day. Did the people decide not to come again? Did they die? Who knew.

"Boom!" I heard a sound from behind me that scared and almost forced me to lose balance.

"Wnat on earth, don't scare me like that, ever." I turned to see that it was none other than Luke. Of course.

"Okay, so are you heading to class or do you want to hear some fun news?" He wriggled his eyebrows ar me, extending his hand for receiving.

"Some fun news please." I accepted his request and together we ducked out of sight and into the computer room.

"Like I predicted," he began once we were seated and alone. "Nie Manchester's information have been deleted. His images have also been modified, here, look at this."

He pointed to the screen. True to his words, Nie had a head full of hair, his images were no longer displayed in a black and white filter. One could still tell it was the same man though.

"Wow." I shook my head in disgust at their disturbing actions. "Tell me you have also made more progress, like, I don't know, making the almadate last a lot more than an hour, you know, a forever kind of thing!"

"Well, I've started." He chuckled. "That really is6nt a problem. The main issue is getting to know the source. At least I know a way, all I've got to find is the source." He said to me. "Which is why I called you here."

"What? You found a way for us both to sneak into the lab?" I teased, laughing to back myself up.

"I found a way for us both to sneak into the lab." He repeated in confirmation.

"Wait, what?" I stopped laughing. "What we you trying to say?" I shook my head at him.

"You said, you didn't even know where this lab was." I expressed my worry. I had no intentions of going anywhere with him, especially when I lacked every sort of experience.

"Now I do." He winked at me. It started in New York, I tracked every lab over there with my phone. Turns out, the one with the highest volume of liar gas, was the heart of science, science lab." He typed the name into the search box.

"Wait, what does this mean?" I wondered, "you and I have to go to New York or something?"

"Yes, we do." He affirmed.

"No way my mum will let me leave her sight like that, you have to be kidding me." I shook my head, chuckling in astonishment.

"She won't even know you are gone. Don't worry, it's only twenty minutes away, plus, you are talking to a science genius here, I've got it all under control." He smirked, feeling proud of himself.

*

"This is your under control?!" I gasped when I saw Luke standing in front of me, on my porch.

"Who is it?" My mom yelled from the kitchen.

"Don't worry about it mum." I'd taken almadate oil already.

"What are you doing here?" I asked through gritted teeth, not wanting to raise any forms of suspicions.

"Well, you don't want your mum finding out about you being gone and so I figured out a way to help you do it and for that to happen, I have to be at your house." He set the briefcase I hadn't noticed earlier to the floor and zipped it open.

"What are you doing?" I asked, one hand on my waist as he rummaged through the bag of strange tools.

"You will see." He shrugged, "can you get me in without being seen?"

"I don't think so, why?" I looked inside the house in care my mother was secretly watching us from around her.

"So I can copy a clone version of you into the house. It's a new experiment I haven't tried out yet but it's sure to work except this version can't speak or do anything yet. So, your mum will think you're sick, no big deal." He shrugged, pulling out a small, blue rod like item and shoving it around.

"Okay, take me in." He stood to his feet.

"For someone who refers to himself as a genius, you are pretty much an idiot." I said.

"I know." He chuckled at my words.

"Like, you don't even know for sure that it will work, ugh!" I led him into the house regardless, spying on every corner, watching out for my mum. She would definitely want to know Luke's mission in here and that would be trouble for me.

We both walked on our tip toes but the gods of the universe appeared to be on my mother's side.

She appeared from the kitchen holding a tray. I was fast enough to push Luke so he could lay low.

"What was that?" She narrowed her eyes at me.

"Nothing." I grinned widely. The couch was the only barrier between Luke and my mother.

"I'm pretty sure I saw something." She began to walk towards us.

I noticed Luke try to crawl up the stairs and so I kicked him in the sides.

"Okay, there really is something." She dropped the tray and advanced towards us.

"I said there's nothing, why would I lie?" I wondered aloud.

"That's it." Luke stood to his feet and charged a remote in her direction. Right before my eyes, she stopped moving.

"Mum?" I called, walking towards her. I gasped, staring awfully at her frozen state, "what did you do to her?" I turned back at Luke.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine. This remote is more like a game control for humans, only it has nothing but a pause and play button." He flipped the small remote around as he gave an explanation for another one of his unreasonable gadgets.

"If well targeted, it auto connects to the brain and puts a stop to it. It's like you're dead, but your heart's still working." He shrugged, "it was my plan B."

"Wow." I grabbed the remote from him. "So I could have used this on my brother the whole time?" I shook my head in disbelief.

"That reminds me, I still have to pause two other people, is there a time limit before this wears off?" I wondered.

"Nope." He shook his head, "until I press play." He shrugged.

"Interesting." I nodded. "Wait here, I'll go freeze my siblings." I attempted to go up the stairs.

"Wait!" He said. "Gulp a bit of the almadate oil again."

"Why?"

"We need to be invisible by the time we sneak into that lab, and for now, this is my only invisibility potion."

"That is your genius plan?" I shook my head.

"Twenty minutes is a long time, we need to gather information." He nudged me to carry on with my siblings and what I thought to do with them.

I took another sip from the almadate oil and we were soon done and ready to hit the road.

*

"This is it, the heart of science." He announced as soon as we were parked in front of the lab. It looked like something from a movie.

"Wow." I gulped. The huge lab was shaped like a white museum. The floors were covered in artificial grass of uniform length and the land area had to be about a million acres.

I alighted the car after Luke who secured his briefcase in his hands.

"We should be invisible in about five minutes, come on." He waved me over, leading me in.

"I'm worried. We are novices, we could be killed if we get caught." I admitted to him.

"We wouldn't get caught." He shook his head, "we could take the almadate a third time though." He nodded with a shrug.

"A third time? What happens after?" I wondered.

"We can only take it after we become visible again, then we could use it, it lasts another hour, we become invisible again." He said while we walked as carefully as could be, scrutinizing for humans lurking around.

"Are you sure this would work?" I sighed, "what happens if we take it while we are invisible?"

"You stay invisible permanently." He chuckled nervously.

"Why the fuck does this have so many negative effects, ugh!" I groaned in disbelief, "how do you even know all this stuff?" I shook my head.

"Because, I have test subjects okay, don't worry they're not humans." He noticed the look of disgust on my face. "Look, you're starting to become invisible."

I flashed my hands before me. He was right. "But what about your briefcase, it's visible." I frowned.

"That's why I've got this lab coat on." He chuckled, hiding the briefcase beneath it.

"This better work out." I scoffed, we were by now completely invisible.

"Don't worry, I know my way around here and believe me when I say, I know where the heart of this place is." He sounded boastful.

"You sure do." I rolled my eyes, knowing he couldn't tell.

"The door's locked." I announced in a whisper as soon as we got to what I thought ass the main door.

"I know, I figured that out." He said.

I heard zipping sounds which informed that he had opened the briefcase.

"What about the security alarms? Even though we are invisible, we can still be sensed." I warned.

"I hacked into the security system, don't worry. There." He said, the door was unlocked.

He held my hand in his so he could guide us both.

I followed Luke silently as he led me through the metal doors and huge gadgets, combined with multi chemicals.

We soon arrived at an open room and we pressed ourselves against the metal wall of the room.

Two scientists dressed in health worker outfit were in the room.

"Are you sure this is the major source?" I whispered against Luke's ear, holding him tighter from the fear of losing him.

"Affirmative. The gas is most detected in this room." He whispered back.

"We need to pump more if the liar gas, we have limited time." The male scientist waved his hands in the air.

"Someone's in here." The feminine of the two humans turned around sharply, pointing a satellite- like gun in our direction.

I froze in place and so did he.

"That's a laser beam 300, it melts anything in one shot." He managed to say.

"What are you doing, there's no one there." Her male counterpart retorted. She turned as if she believed him giving us time to sigh in relief.

She took us aback by spinning around all of a sudden and tossing what looked like a bomb in our direction.

Fumes from the gadget spread across us and we both coughed harshly. We were visible again.

"I knew it." She aimed her laser gun at us. Luke yanked me from view in a hurry, so her target hit the wall. That part of it melted instantly, leaving its fumes behind.

Her male counterpart threw a rope at us and it immediately tied us together automatically.

They both came closer, taking their facial equipments off.

"Mum, dad?" Luke gasped in astonishment.