"Come in."

Her voice echoes firmly through the wooden door. In my head, it echoes match the frequencies of her green lights. Nonetheless, I open the door. The green light to my surprise is low-pitched, only hovering near the door over some plants. For once I wasn't blinded immediately after entering one of her labs, however, the smell hit me first.

Almost unbearable, it twists my nose in every direction trying to get away. As a result, I almost drop the plate, catching it midway before it touches the ground. Maybe Luna as playful as she seemed; wasn't kidding.

"Don't freak out," Lisa says, calmly. "Your nose should adjust in a few moments."

After a few seconds of hearing her words, my nose stops trying to run out of the room. That's when I clearly see her and the room she's surrounded by. The room is like a similar setup to what I and Lincoln found within that Covenant building. The only difference is this place is alive with Lisa as its heartbeat.

Bubbling beakers and tubes litter the room along with chalkboards and papers taped above or below them. The only small corner untouched by a scientist's doings is her bed all prim and clean. Another corner has a barrel of some fluid fuming from its layers. Probably what has this room smelling so.

Then in the center of it all, Lisa sits at a desk reading or writing something; I can't tell. All I know is that she hasn't left that desk since I arrived. Shouldn't be surprised.

"I...uh brought you your breakfast."

"Ah yes," she remarks, only to keep her eyes on the desk. Not to me or to the food that Loran specifically made for her. "Just place it on the table over there."

I see the desk that her tiny little finger points to. It happens to be right next to the barrel. My nose creeks getting next to it. The funny thing is it doesn't smell bad or like anything for that matter. Still, my nose can't help to be bothered by it for one reason or another. So, I have to ask

"What the hell are you brewing up in here?"

She still doesn't turn. "If you must know. I call it my personal dead aroma, in the making."

"Dead aroma? Sounds like you're cooking up a bomb."

"Not necessarily. It's designed to give off the scent of 10 corpses to the septum for a short period allowing them to do nothing else. I can imagine the police and armies doing wonders with this once I can correct the formula."

"Luna wasn't kidding, this room is a death trap."

Lisa finally acknowledged me, turning her chair halfway. She wears goggles that completely hide her eyes. However, I don't need to see them to know what look she's giving me. I've seen it a few hundred times from my Lisa already.

"So, I assume you need something since you're still standing here."

That comment freezes my thoughts a little, but I manage to reply with

"Why yes actually I was wondering if you could take a look at these for a moment."

I unravel the three blueprints that I hid alongside my back and once her eyes hit the blue, her chair turns fully around. She waves me closer and with a little shake in my hand, I give her the prints. I must have not let them go right away because it took her a few tugs to get them out of my hands.

She stares and holds them up to her ceiling light as if it were an old hundred-dollar bill. I hover over her watching those tiny little hands examine every detail of every word. I almost thought she would begin licking it. My attention is shot back up when she turns back to me with an emerging smirk.

"These are pretty impressive what you got here, Joseph. Some of these components I haven't fully mastered myself. Quite fascinating. Though what on earth are you needing an emp designed in such a way for?"

She then shows me the middle one in the pile of three. My Lisa's EMP has the design of a mini canister similar to a smoker. Much smaller with more features to destroy a bot's insides. Wouldn't be my first choice, but to this Lisa, I make sure it seems like it was.

"Well, you see it's another prop for my costume. You get bonus brownie points if you have stuff with every uttermost detail."

I didn't fully convince myself with my own words. So, I can't be surprised that her goggles look like they want to fall from her face while looking back at the blueprints.

"Brownie points huh? Is that the best you could come up with?"

"Well...I-"

"Never mind." She says cutting me off while skimming through the three prints. "You've come to the right place. I do appreciate a good challenge and let me tell you good sir; you have brought me quite the challenge.

"Wait," I blurt out almost immediately. "Does that mean you'll help me build them?"

"Help? Heck, I could probably build these for you."

"Wow, that's great. I can't believe you would actually-

"I would keep your thrills in your panties if I were you. I haven't said I would build them for you."

That keeps my mouth shut. She already said she could, and I knew by the way she was enraptured by the blueprints; that she wanted to. Still, people like her like to know that there right. She begins giving off that clique smirk once she sees I get the picture. She's now just waiting for me to ask it.

"What do you want?"

"What I want is to know if I were to build or assist you in building these trinkets, who would I be building them for, and for what purpose? Mainly, I want to know why you are here, at this time, at this place."

She stops to make sure I have processed everything said thus far. My eyes give her all she needs to know.

"You might want to take a chair, Joseph. You might be here for a while."

I slowly go for a nearby chair placing myself in the doctor's hands. If I don't satisfy her lingering assumptions, she might just throw the prints in that barrel of toxins she's cooking up, because I don't know where to start.

I first told her about the machine, then my mission to get the Emps, and the fact that she was the one that sent me here. I go even further and explain to her about the Resistance Fighters, Devastator, his Legion, and how my Lincoln died, just for me to come here in his place.

After all that rambling, that smirk only gets bigger. She then turns, takes off her goggles reminding me of the child-like eyes underneath, and puts on her normal circular pair.

"Who else knows about this?" She asks squinting through her glasses.

"Just Lincoln and Eddy," I simply say. "It would also be best if that were to stay that way for the time being."

"Hmm, I guess that would be best, for now."

The silence for a moment fills the air as if it has replaced her gas. I don't know how to respond to hearing her voice become dripped slowly in silence, and I doubt she does either. Though I could tell that deep down maybe she didn't want that to be the case, even through her fable attempts to keep up that smirk.

Though probably the mere fact that she knows another version of her bent space through time has to keep that thing alive. Still, it isn't less of an annoyance.

"So...you think you can help me?"

She remains still. Her eyes glue themselves brewing up a storm either towards the ceiling or the prints. Taking one more glance at the prints, she turns to me only to turn back around as quickly pushing the prints to the side.

"Tell you what, Joseph. Come back to me towards the crack of sunset. I'll need some time to look these over more vigorously. Then I'll tell you, my decision."

"Thank you" I softly muttered out to her.

She doesn't react. Only continuing her work like I wasn't here. I must trust she'll be able to help on her part. Granted, she did design them. My worries shouldn't be so high. I only wish that my worries about rebuilding her machine myself were just as such.

The creek of sunset couldn't have taken any longer than it did. The first few hours after revealing my secret to Lisa were the worst. It wasn't too hot or overly windy but the overarching anticipations out of excitement or fear kept my mind racing. In return, kept my limbs quaking. If it wasn't for Lincoln and Lana showing up each at separate hours when they did, I might have broken more than I had fixed.

To bide the time, Lincoln and I talked about life, mainly about my life. Eventually, once Lana showed up, I ended up showing her how to stabilize one of the rocket fuel lines. It burst on her, spraying black liquid directly into her face. Lincoln laughed, which only fueled her as she tried to throw some of the blacks on him. The scuffle as fun as it looked was short-lived.

If it couldn't get any better, Luna came out as well. This time wearing a purple turtleneck that matched her violet skirt. She gave me a breath of fresh air as she wanted to hear me play. I give her a few verses and then she teaches me how to do some of her mother's lullabies. We did a little duet as I got the hang of it, which ended up putting Lana to sleep.

Fifteen minutes later after chatting a little while longer, she cartels Lana in her arms and carries her inside. Lincoln follows suit along with them claiming he has some stuff to finish.

Now alone, the nerves slowly start creeping back. Before that, I was able to fix one of the rocket's heads, stabilize both the engine and the exhaust that I and Lana worked on a day earlier, and fix a bit of the busted fuel line. Yet, so much more needed to be done.

Thankfully, an alarm I set for myself goes off blaring. I look up at the sky and see the tiniest movements of the sun's yellow fall. It's finally time.

I don't even have time to register as my legs are already zooming back into the house. I quickly say hi to Luana who's reading a book on the couch. I doubt she even heard me. None of that matters since I'm already at her door.

This time I don't hesitate with the knocking. I'm surprised that no other Folium comes out to see the madman knocking upon their sister's door. Eventually, she would give me another, "Come in."

Entering her room, the second time around, my nose doesn't try to run away in a foul attempt to escape. On the contrary, it smells quite pleasant, probably because of all the many plants she has here. She was observing them, taking notes, and then placing some type of liquid in their pots with an eyedropper as I entered.

A first glance at her desk, I see the three prints spread out all along with it. I can't help but show a little smile, too bad she still hasn't turned from her plants to see it. I knew right then I would have to make the first move.

"Hey, Lisa how is it going," I choose to start with.

"Same old, same old," she says still looking at the plants.

Shouldn't be surprised.

"I wanted to see what you think of the prints."

"Hmmm, oh yeah, you are on time." She proceeds to look at the looming yellow and orange through her window. "Aren't you."

Once I nod with confidence, she drips a few more drops into her plants and then lets the wheels underneath her chair roll back towards her desk. I take that as my queue to follow her and prepare myself for what she has to say.

"Alright, Joseph here's the deal. I did look these over and as you can see, I even started preparing for the operation."

I quickly glance down at the nearest one and see faint light blue marks at certain spots pointing out materials, components, etc. My eyes go back towards hers still can't believe it.

"So, does that mean you'll-"

"Yes, Joseph. Out of a scientific challenge, I'll build them for you-"

"Wow thank you. I...don't know what to say."

"No need to say anything because I haven't finished yet. I'll do them for you if you agree to do some things for me."

My face goes still. I should have known that even with a challenge, she wouldn't do it for free.

I hesitantly ask, "What did you have in mind?"

"It'll require you to run errands for me in regards to this project...Timelines as I called it, to help make things smoother. I hope when the time comes around, you'll be ready."

"Woah, that sounds simple enough," I say jokingly. I hoped to get at least a little smile out of her, but I didn't.

"You might think so."

She then puckers her lips and turns her body back to the desk. All I can think to do is rub my hands together hoping she would follow up with something. She does this by grabbing a light blue marker and beginning to underline and circle things I can't make out from where I stand. It was like I wasn't even there. I watched her for a minute until I got the gullet to ask.

"So, what time frame are we looking at here for all of this? A few days, a week?"

"Woah now, let's not get too ahead of ourselves." She yells it out in a tone that mimics mine from earlier. My face becomes bleak very quickly.

Turing her head but not her body she continues.

"I understand I'm a child genius, but even I won't get this done that fast, especially since there are things I still need to acquire and fully understand. At the fastest, they'll be done in around a few months or so."

"A few months?!" My voice bounces throughout the room making her plants shiver. That made her chair turn back to me with a raised eyebrow. I collect myself and continue softy. "I mean, come on Lisa. There must be a way you could speed up the process a little?"

"I'm afraid not, Joseph." She folds her leg upon the other. "You can't rush science like this."

She waits for my response, but what's there to say? A few months? Heck, that might be even longer if I can't get Lisa's damm machine up and running. That thought alone begins to suspend me in time. That same feeling of waving goodbye at all my comrades in the hangar. The same feeling I had when seeing my Lana try and stop me.

I didn't want to leave her alone, not at all, especially after Lincoln's death. At least I knew both Peter and my Lisa would keep her safe. However, being in a war for so long, it only takes a few months or even a few weeks to change everything. My inner self does anything to give Lisa a response, a sentence, or even just one word. Yet my body continues to hang from a slack jaw.

"You know, I'm quite surprised at your reaction. Isn't this all a part of the plan?"

"My Lisa didn't bother briefing me on that part," I claim, tone thickening.

"I can see why." There's the snarkiest I know all too well.

"That's not," I pause and exhale, "exactly helping Lisa."

With her only response being the rise of another eyebrow, my body doesn't bother to try and stop trembling. I can feel my mind splitting hairs in the form of small pools of sweat. The room begins getting smaller, spinning like I'm in a spiral. My breaths only get longer and bigger. My heart pounds me backward, making me fall.

I catch myself in a chair for a brief moment before hitting the ground. Afterward, I can only collect myself as I watch Lisa just sit back with regret squinting from her eyes.

I'm supposed to be a soldier, not an un-trained commoner. Lincoln wouldn't need a chair. He wouldn't have let that happen. Another reason why he should have been here, instead of me. My head can't help but lean down in shame.

"Are you alright, Joseph," she asked me with a voice that sounded sympathetic for once. A rare sight. "You seemed like you were having a panic attack."

"I'm...better now."

"Ah ok, good...Anyways I might have a suggestion for you."

"I'm all ears."

"If you want to stay here any longer, I would recommend asking our mother for such permission. Who knows, she might just let you stay here for the amount of time you'll need if you play your cards right."

"Sounds simple enough," I say, bleakly this time.

Almost like an alarm going off in her head, she checks the child clock she has posted on her wall and claims.

"And as of now, she should be home."

"Then what are we waiting for? Though I'm not gonna lie, I've been curious to see who your parents are."

"Well Joseph, in that case, you shouldn't be disappointed. Give me a few moments or so and I'll go along with you."

"Didn't think you would want my company," My voice winks at her.

"Not necessarily. I'm curious to see how my mother will react to you. Most importantly as you put it, you to her."