{Mathew Folics}

Mathew knew that he was what most considered a stick in the mud.

Then again, it might be more appropriate to call him a fossil.

A really old stick in the mud, so to say...

The point being, Mr Folics was perfectly aware that he had a frigid personality, a stern disposition, and very little patience for the concept of humour.

This being the case, it was always a great wonder to him just how he had managed to become friends with one Mr Oliver Green.

At first, the only logical explanation he could come up with had something to do with magnets, and opposites attracting, but that was quickly dismissed as nonsense...

Laid back, casually friendly, neutral, Oliver Green was the plain sort of man who never gave nor left an impression.

It admittedly took Mr Folics a long time to realise that Oliver's pleasant, nondescript personality hid a very sharp intellect and a frightening altruistic will.

How else could he have managed to sneak past the icy defences of Mr Folics? The most guarded loner in the history of antisocial conduct, and become his first, perhaps only, friend...

Yes, the most annoying thing about Oliver Green was definitely the fact that he was a meddlesome, manipulative do-gooder, and actually very good at hiding his little projects.

For instance, the time Oliver had turned their shared room at the university into an exotic animal shelter the one weekend, Mathew left it unsupervised.

Which Folic had been forced to clean up.

Or the time he hacked into a rival nano tech facility and planted a virus that corrupted all their data, screwing up fifty years of weapons research.

Again, it was Folics' job to clean up.

Or the time he fostered two troubled brothers in possession of some of the world's most advanced nanotechnology...and a lot of mummy issues.

A mess, Folics is still in the process of cleaning up.

And finally, the time Oliver Green stumbled upon Maddison Tramph.

A troubled teen with her heart in the right place, likely compensating for the fact that her head wasn't exactly screwed on straight. Always managing to give people the impression that they are somehow being toyed with.

She was interesting, simply because she didn't cower. Didn't withdraw, or guard herself against the giants around her.

Bravery, born from empathy and trust. She saw everyone as human.

To the supervisors of the Shrink Program, geniuses physically altered to be something superhuman, forbidden from leaving the facility without clearance from the government, it meant a lot to be treated as such.

And of course, with her clumsy antic's and animated expressions, she quickly became the source of endless amusement.

And all this contributed to Oliver Greens interest in her, but what really caught Oliver's attention was that she was someone who was never supposed to come to their attention.

Obviously an experienced fighter, yet she had never been expelled, never before fallen under the scrutiny of the law.

A trouble maker, who had never actually been in trouble.

Oliver found this odd. Became curious.

After all, the most logical reason not to see something that should be seen is because someone is hiding it.

And once he discovered what was truly going on at the school, Oliver realised.

Whoever framed Maddison Tramph was sending the Shrink Program a message.

A distress signal.

Of course, when Oliver shared his theories with Mr Folics, the stiff lawyer had immediately accused the man of inventing a conspiracy to relieve his boredom... Which had led to an argument, which then leads to a bet... that Mathew lost...

Because he couldn't deny that Oliver was right about something being wrong with the school.

Not after Maddison was brought to the rehabilitation facility, and the Shrink Program did their own investigation into her situation.

Discovering that the Floid twins, who had disappeared nine years ago, were involved.

This, really, should have been his first clue that something was wrong with Oliver.

The fact that his friend, who had fostered the twins himself, never mentioned their presence at the school.

Of course, Oliver never was one to show his own pain. Even after the boys disappeared, he didn't show any outwards sign that he had even noticed.

So Mr Folics had just assumed he hadn't said anything in his own way of keeping his pain private.

It was only now, after the attack on the Shrink Program when Oliver was accused of sabotaging the System from the inside to allow his former charges to take control, that anyone realised the truth.

Oliver Green didn't remember.

He had no recollection of ever having met either twin, not from nine years ago, or recently at the school.

He didn't recognise their names, didn't know of Dr Cassandra Floid.

All memory concerning the existence of Alan and Alexander Floid had been erased.

And further tests proved it.

Against all the odds, Oliver Green's core, the technology that controlled his nanobots, had been tampered with.

Without his own knowledge or even awareness.

Oliver had become the spy of the Underground.

It was this realisation really that had Matthew volunteering for this half-baked excuse for a rescue mission.

He was just the lawyer after all. He belonged in an office, screwing with people from behind the safety of a very large desk. The last thing he wanted to be doing is chasing down lethal criminals and taking the law into his own hands, an act he utterly despised in other people. Not to mention he dealt with enough idiots on a daily basis not to go adding Cassandra Floid of all maniacs to his list.

Nope, if his best friend were not currently lying in surgery with a 99.7% chance of death or paralysis right now, there would be no way Matthew Folics would be here.

As it was, he had been left to deal with the most difficult job of all.

Distracting the very lunatic responsible for his colleagues' condition.

The hard part being controlling his murderous impulses.

Of course, the whole intervening in the middle of the fight and setting the madwoman off hadn't been part of the plan.

Despite putting the mission in jeopardy, Matthew was having a hard time feeling sorry about that. As far as he was concerned, after one bad day, the only screaming in agony, he was willing to tolerate was that of his enemies.

He wasn't going to sit back and let her torment a child in front of him a second longer.

Unfortunately, this dramatic turn of events left Mr Folics scrambling for a way to stall for time, distracting the crowd without letting Dr Floid catch on to what was currently afoot.

Which involved talking to her. Uck.

Ten minutes into the ordeal and losing his patience, Mr Folios was having a hard time not attempting to strangle the woman personally.

He knew that he wouldn't have to wait much longer, that he just had to keep her attention on him for just a moment longer, but the stress of just listening to this woman talk was driving him insane.

Insane enough to start saying things he shouldn't.

"Let me guess, you picked Green for your little experiment because you couldn't stand the way your own children picked him over you?" Mr Folics raised a mocking eyebrow, knowing that the comment was recklessly provocative, but really not caring.

"Slime." She snarled the insult, enraged. "Lying little snake, corrupting my babies with his pretty little fairytale. Turning them against me.."

"Is that how you've been controlling your children Cassandra? Take away their favourite toy and tell them to behave unless you brake it?" Mr Folics jaw was beginning to ache with the way he clenched his teeth. "Surely you must realise how much they loathe you for it?"

Dr Floid actually went pale.

"They don't understand... They are too young to understand the sacrifices that must be made for the greater good... I am their mother... They may resent my choices, but they love me... They would never betray..." Alarmed with the sudden destination this conversation was headed, Mr Folics opened his mouth to change the subject, but the Doctor no longer seemed to notice him there.

She clutched her head, eyes wide and unseeing as she continued to mutter to herself.

"No, they love me... I would have seen it... I watched them... They spoke to no one, told no one our secrets... they did everything I told them to, my good little boys... They would do anything for me... Kill... Betray... even their little friends... for my sake..."

The Doctor froze, rigid as she spoke the words as defined as any penny drop.

"They injured Maddison Tramph."

Immediately Mr Folics stomach dropped in dread. He knew he only had seconds before the genius put all the pieces together and things started hitting the fan in spectacular fashion.

His hand slipped into to his pocket, knowing that they had to act now, ready or not.

"That is how they found us. The little rat was injured in the blast, and those damn imitations infected her with their technology. They tracked her here."

Slowly, as she dragged her mind though the thick waters of shock, Dr Floid raised her head, directing her gaze across the room to meet the eyes of one person.

Alan Floid.

"You. " She whispered, eyes shining blue and red hair floating weightlessly around her head.

Face warily calm, Alan Floid straightened, wrapping a hand around the arm of the pale boy beside him and drawing the shorter kid with him as he backed away.

"Traitorous."

Dr Floid followed her hair's example, lifting to float in the air, hovering far about the ground.

"Little."

Mr Folics hurriedly pulled the device from his pocket and held it above his head so that the supervisors hidden throughout the room could see, even as Doctor Floid scream the last word.

"SNAKE!"

Like pulling the trigger of a starting gun, Mr Folics pressed the button on the small device.

"Here's a taste of your own Medicine Doctor." He murmured as the signal that would hopefully jam her System was unleashed. "From all of us at the Shrink Program."

Dr Floid screamed in wordless outrage, rounding on the new threat and flying towards him like a deranged harpy. Mr Folics didn't flinch, standing calmly even as the woman froze, outstretched hand inches from his face.

Dr Floid's expression contorted as the signal took effect and control of her own System slipped through her fingers.

Mr Folics expected her to fall to the ground, was prepared to defend himself as she screamed and attacked him with nothing more than what her personal technology was capable of without a system.

What he didn't expect was for her, and two-thirds of the guests in the ballroom room, to explode in a spray of clear liquid.

Soaking him in his instant of surprise. This is why he hated being in the damn firing line.

Wiping the liquid from his face, Mr Folics felt the clear water-like substance tingle against his skin.

The liquid was pure nano nanotechnology, controlled remotely by a System.

Staring down at the puddle that had once been Cassandra Floid, the lawyer sighed.

The real Doctor wasn't even in the building.

In the stunned silence of the room, a small voice that seemed to have a compulsive need to fill such silences spoke.

"... Is it too insensitive to start singing Ding dong the witch is dead?"

"Not now Maddison."

"But she melted Vain... This is a once in a lifetime opportunity... "

"Even if it was appropriate, you only get to sing that if a house falls on her idiot."

"Damn..."

"Ahem." A new voice interrupted. "If I could have everyone's attention please."

Along with Mr Folics, the children and hundred or so guests that hadn't turned out to substitute all turned to look up.

At the group supervisors, standing in the viewing boxes on the highest level.

The one who had spoken, Reece, smiled peacefully down at the crowd. Mr Folics couldn't help but narrow his eyes at the gleam of excitement in the fragile-looking man's eyes.

The old crook was having good way too much fun with this little stint out of his retirement.

"I would like to ask everyone to please surrender quietly and peacefully, but somehow, I don't think anyone here is in the mood to comply. That being the case... " he sighed as the crowd stirred restlessly.

Even without nanotechnology, the people of the Underground were deadly in their own ways. Most would still have technology in their bodies, so even without a system, they were not without some defences.

Looks like we are going to have a fight on our hands if this situation isn't handled delicately and diplomatically.

".... We are The Shrink Program, and you, Ladies and Gentlemen, are all under arrest! " Reece announced cheerfully, grinning.

Folics' eye twitched in ire.

The damn idiots of the rehabilitation program were going to be the end of him.

Right on cue, all Hell broke loose.