"Again," I barked at the robot, forcing myself to stand as it chirped and whirred back to life.

It started to move again, raising its hard plastic to fight again. I'd worked so hard on it, and now, just like I'd programmed it to, it was beating me. Badly. I was getting slower, more sluggish. I'd sat for days at the computer, coding it to be exactly like this. It drove it's perfectly modeled hands into my stomach, forcing all the breath out of my lungs all at once. I fell over, and it started to move towards me.

"Stop," I commanded, and it halted obediently.

I lay there, the act of taking air in so painful I almost wanted to sob. My watch buzzed to life, chirping widely. I'd set up sensors so I'd know when my uncle was coming. I needed to hide the robot.

"Follow."

It walked after me, right into the closet.

"Shut down."

Its body went rigid, and I closed the door. I ignored the pain and sprinted to the computer monitors. I needed to close the programs before my uncle could see them.

His footsteps echoed loudly on the hard floors of his lab. As his niece, I was allowed to be down there with him, but he couldn't know about my sparring partner, also known as Project Fight Club. Which was what I called it.

"Penelope," my uncle's voice called, his friendly head poking through the door. His eyes looked like they couldn't do anything wrong, but they still belonged to a monster. A monster who would misappropriate Project Fight Club if given the opportunity.

"Yes," I called trying my best to seem nonchalant.

"Could you do Logan's diagnostic for today?"

"You got it," I grinned, trying to hide how happy that made me.

My uncle left, and Logan sauntered through the door, looking as stupidly confident as ever.

"Good afternoon," he told me, looking just as happy to see me as I was him.

"Good afternoon," I smiled back, watching him as he sat down, pulling all the equipment I'd need out. However much I enjoyed talking to him, I did still need to do whatever my uncle asked me to, keep the mask on the monster.

He looked me up and down. "We still have to do that," he whined, watching me move the stuff around.

"Unless you want to explain why we didn't to Uncle John."

"Good point. He doesn't like me as it is."

"Logan," I explained again, "my uncle doesn't like anybody."

"He likes you, but that's different, isn't it? Because you're human."

I pursed my lips, picking up a bulky computer and setting it down on the table next to where he sat. I stood, plugging in the sensors that ran the whole test.

"It doesn't matter. You're superhuman, which I personally think is a whole lot better."

"It matters to him, and whether we like it or not, his opinion is the only one that really matters."

Logan was right. Legally, the government didn't even know he existed, because he'd never actually left the sprawling lab that served as my basement. I wasn't in charge of anything, my uncle and his employees were. And all his employees were paid under the table too, so nothing about the place would have any danger of being shut down by outside forces.

I didn't know what to say, so the sound of typing filled the silence. The computer screen showed the same thing it always had. He wasn't human.

I watched as it started to load, the numbers all filling in. He looked human and acted human, but he was stronger. He was able to hold up more than any human ever could.

"I didn't mean it like that," he said. "I just meant that it's different for me. But you know that."

I looked at him, sitting there. I let my eyes flicker to his lips. No, he'd never let me. So instead, I just leaned over and carefully stuck the sensors to his arms, watching as the computer took some more data, filling in what I already knew.

"I know. And I'm sorry," I told him.

"But that's what I don't understand. Why do you care?"

I could kiss him, but it would never work. My uncle would shut it down, and that would be the end of it all.

"You're easy to talk to than anybody else I know. You don't call me stupid like everyone else does."

"You're a genius," he told me, gesturing to the computer screen. "And speaking of which, how's Project Fight Club?"

"Good. It's kicking my butt, at least."

"Can I try?"

"Sure," I mumbled, pulling the little suction cups off him.

I set up the robot for him, putting everything back away as he fought with it. He was better than me. Figures. It looked like an even match, but he was going easy on it.

"Come here," he gestured to me.

I came, and he stepped aside. "I want to see you try."

I didn't want to, but I didn't want to disappoint him either. So I went, and after a few minutes, I was flat on my back.

"Shut down," I groaned.

The robot had been walking forwards, so when it stiffened, it fell over. I groaned again. I'd spent months working on that, and the sound sent a pang through my heart.

Logan laughed at me moaning on the ground and sat next to me. "Maybe it's worse than I thought to be a human. I'd hate to be that weak."

I hit his arm, and he pretended that it hurt, keeling over and falling on the ground next to me. God, I wanted to kiss him.

Our faces were inches away.

So I did.

Somewhere in the back of my head, I knew how big of a mistake it was, but the nagging feeling was lost as I pulled back. He looked at me with a complete shock.

"What was that?"

"A kiss," I answered sheepishly.

He thought for a moment. "Do it again."

Well, how could I turn that down?

"We're not allowed," I reminded him.

"No," he answered regretfully.

I made a move to stand up. "Forget that ever happened."

"Wait," he muttered, easily pulling me back down. "If we're going to pretend it didn't happen later, we might as well keep doing it now."

"I'm not sure I agree with the logic," I told him, "but we could try it."

I didn't hear my uncle's footsteps coming back. Logan, with his enhanced abilities, certainly should have, but we didn't. He poked his head through the door and cleared his throat.

We broke apart instantly, but it was too late. He was there, his eyes flashing.

"You're not human," he told Logan, "so don't you dare make my niece think for a moment that you are."

"Sorry. It won't happen again," Logan promised.

I looked at Logan. "Why shouldn't it happen?"

Uncle John looked down again. "Because he's not the same species as you, Penelope. It's not natural."

"Oh, please," I hissed, "spare me the lies. You need him to believe you're better, invincible, or else you're afraid. He's stronger than you. He could end you like that." I snapped.

Uncle John stared down at us. "Get away from her," He ordered, a threat simmering in his tone.

Logan stood, but it was only to stand in front of me. "It's not her fault," he said, ready to protect me.

"Who kissed who?"

"I kissed her," Logan lied.  The idiot was so focused on me that he forgot how much worse it would be for him. I would miss a couple of meals and never be allowed in the lab. Logan could very well die.

"Liar," I said from the ground. "I kissed him, and he didn't even kiss back."

"It looked like he was kissing back."

"What did you even see?" I challenged.

"I saw enough. Penelope, go to your room. I'll be up after I deal with him."

My eyes widened. "No."

"Go," he said, moving to get around Logan. He noticed Project Fight Club laying there.

"What's this," he bent over.

"It's a robot that I built."

He turned to the computers, looking at the code that filled it. "This could be useful," he said, kicking it aside.

"Move," he snapped at Logan.

"No."

My uncle couldn't push past, and for a moment I thought we would be fine. Then he walked away, and the speakers that went to the whole lab blared to life. "There's a situation in room 57," it said.

Logan and I both knew what that meant. "Situations," weren't normally dealt with pleasantly.

"You should go to your room," Logan told me.

He let my uncle pull me from the room. I was lead up to my bedroom, the door locking behind me.

I went on my computer and looked at the surveillance camera feed. I saw a whole room of people surrounding Logan, holding tranquilizer guns. I watched him fall limply.

My uncle came in about an hour later. "You're not allowed in the lab," he told me.

"And you won't see Logan again."

"Is he ok?"

"He's fine, but you don't need to worry about it anymore. You won't see him again."

With that, he left, and I was all alone.