After getting through all of my exams, and the chaos that ensued, and finally realizing that the Castle Ficathon was already underway since a few months, I decided that I still wanted to try. Less than a month for 15000 words (the Mini Ficathon), but I'm confident.

This is the third installment of "Close Encounters of the Fourth Kind"; if you haven't already read the other two, you'll be massively confused. You can certainly try, though ;)

Word count: 3096

Chapter 1: Awakening

Flashes of the images from my trip through the wormholes burned into the inside of my eyelids, my forehead only receiving more pain the more I began to come to consciousness.

Ow.

A female voice hammered its way into my ear canal and drowned out any thoughts of my own, so I brought myself to listen.

"-ice to see you awaken, Agent Solus."

Considering that I had been in New York City, last I remembered, being called Agent Solus was disconcerting. "How long was I out?" was what I wanted to say, but all that came out of my mouth was some croaking "'ow 'ng 's I ou'?". Bwah, I hate cotton mouth.

"Relax, Morten. You're still recovering from the ordeal that you've been through."

I managed a weak nod that barely moved my head an inch or so and started gesticulating for something to drink, as I didn't trust my own voice to actually communicate right now. My strength was enough for about five seconds of swaying my limbs in a somewhat coordinated fashion before I sagged back in exhaustion. At least my mind was clearing enough to realize that I was currently in some form of hospital bed, with my upper body being propped up at an angle, which also meant that if I needed to drink (which I did), I wouldn't have to move around much. That sounded very promising right now. I was almost about to start weakly flailing my arms again when I felt a straw touch my lip.

I could have cried in relief, it there hadn't been so much effort involved. Somehow I managed to keep myself in check, at least a little bit, and gingerly had the first sips of the cool liquid hit my mouth. A happy sigh escaped, and I finally pulled up enough willpower to open my eyes as I was happily sucking on that straw.

At least I was somewhere familiar. I blinked a couple of times, just to be sure, since the afterimages from the wormhole were still leaving small flashes behind. This was definitely the med bay inside GD headquarters. Sure enough, now that my brain had supplied that bit of information, my head turned around to where I had last heard the voice and saw Allison Blake sitting next to my bed, of course clad in her lab coat.

"Thank you," I finally offered, my mouth sufficiently moistened.

She scoffed slightly. "No thanks needed. After what you've done for all of us, it's the least I could do."

I closed my eyes again and heaved out another sigh before letting a small smile settle on my face. "Still. It would be impolite, and I wasn't raised like that."

"Fine, I'll accept your thanks," she laughed and put the cup back down. "How are you feeling?"

"Like shit," I shot back, my eyes back open and staring at her. "Everything below neck just feels exhausted at the moment, but the wormholes left behind a nasty headache. I don't know what it did, or how long I was out. But at least pain means I'm still alive, right? That is something, I guess."

At least it made her laugh. Not that I expected to get another reply to that. I sunk back into the mattress, and swallowed what would have been the third sigh this minute down. "Right… well, since it didn't work last time, I'll ask again. How long was I out, doc?"

I could have sworn that I felt the mood shift when I asked that question, and she took a few seconds before she answered, her voice growing quiet all of a sudden. "Eight days now, Morten."

That was… longer than I had expected. Way longer.

"Do you know what happened? Details are… a little hazy right now."

She grimaced and shook her head. "Sadly, only what we could discern from when you were brought here. Internal bleeding, partial organ failure, second degree burns inside your body and some other, non-life-threatening injuries all over the place."

"Impressive," I muttered as my brain tried to process those new pieces of information. "With those kinds of injuries, I don't think that I would have expected to wake up at all."

"Well, you know how Eureka works," Allison said with a raised eyebrow. "There are only a few things that we consider truly impossible here, and at least some of those might just be a matter of time."

I nodded silently and closed my eyes again for a few long moments. "Fine, doc. Lay it on me."

"What do you mean?" she asked, clearly feigning ignorance.

I scoffed and glared at her, the smirk on my lips taking almost all the bite out of it. "Please, Allison. I'm injured, not stupid. You've had eight days to stitch me back together; by now, chances are I'm either half cyborg or an invalid, at least for the foreseeable future. So... what's it going to be?"

I got the distinct impression that she didn't really want to answer, but then she sighed and I knew the dam was broken. And I didn't even have to bring out the sad puppy eyes, which was an added bonus.

"A little bit of both, I'm afraid," she started. "The higher-ups decreed that we should spare no expenses to ensure your continued survival."

That didn't sound so bad… until I remembered that we were in Eureka. 'Top of the line' meant something different here.

Allison turned around and pulled up some data on her tablet. "Additional bone weave, artificial muscle fibers, some slight genetic modifications to accelerate the healing process. Some of it is highly experimental as you can imagine-"

"No shit," I muttered, barely realizing that I had said that out loud.

Blake didn't even acknowledge what I had said and continued. "... which means you're not only alive, you're also kind of our guinea pig. Some of the things that are now inside of your body will need to be monitored regularly. Not that you would be in any condition to go anywhere, but still, for the duration of this… 'medical trial'... you are not allowed to leave town. Both for your and our sake."

In that moment, I wished for a desk that I could butt my head against. "How long are we talking about?"

Allison shrugged. "Depends solely on you, and how well you take to the foreign material and tissue inside your body. The longest time would obviously be needed if you reject the implants. That could very well mean a year or two, depending on whether or not we can isolate why your body rejects it. I know that you won't like it that you have to stay in town for so long, but it was the only way we could afford to put that much tech in you to keep you alive."

She even looked fairly sincere in the frown that was supposed to soften the blow, which made me feel a little guilty about hating her a bit right now. What with her saving my life and all. "And best case scenario?"

Another shrug. I hated her a little bit more. "Three to six months, realistically. Even if you take your new parts well, we would still need to confirm why. That's the price for getting very expensive replacements parts put inside you."

This time, my glare didn't come with a smile. "To be perfectly honest, I really don't like you a little bit right now."

That she started laughing at that comment didn't help.

"I can tell," she said, the frown now replaced by a smirk. "Now shoo, you're apparently feeling well enough to gripe, so you're well enough to walk out of here." But I'm still sore! And the mattress is so soft!

"Don't overdo yourself, and come back tomorrow for a check up," she amended and rolled her eyes after I hit her with my best 'hurt puppy' look. "Daily check ups for a week, every other day for two weeks after that, and then twice a week for at least six weeks, probably more. Also, thanks to a lot of strings being pulled, we've gotten some 'out-of-town help' for your recovery."

I perked up a little upon hearing that. "Really? Who is it?"

The smirk she was sporting morphed into a teasing smile. "You're supposed to be the Secret Agent. Go find out."

I huffed at her antics. "Fine. Be like that if you must. Can't I at least get a hint?"

Allison apparently took pity on me, because she actually responded to that, which I hadn't expected to be honest. "You haven't heard it from me, but at this time of the day," she said after a quick glance on her watch, "you might want to take a look at Café Diem. I'll even be nice today, after all you've just woken up, and call Carter to give you a ride."

The man wouldn't be too keen on my continued presence in town for the foreseeable future, which, despite a healthy sense of self-esteem, I couldn't fault him for. On the other hand, he was a stand-up guy, and if I ever wanted to actually become friends with him, I would have to put in some effort.

Maybe not today, though; but with how sore I felt, I had no qualms accepting a ride with the Sheriff. At this point I would even accept a ride from Taggart, if it meant not having to walk.

"That would be very nice, indeed," I said, trying not to let my inner monologue show too much. With that, I sat up on the bed with a sigh, swung my legs over the edge and gingerly tried standing.

It took a moment to get used to standing again, but apart from the immense soreness, I was surprisingly okay. It only felt like having spent a day digging through a garden instead of having spent a day being pummeled by both Klitschko brothers. Nice.

As expected, even though Allison was the one calling, Sheriff Carter was less than pleased to be my personal chauffeur, but, since Allison was the one calling, he tried to keep those feelings to himself. At least until we were out of earshot, or so I thought. "Glad you're not dead."

I gave him a sidelong glance as we 'walked and talked'. That was not exactly what I expected. Not exactly warm; but not hostile either. "Me too," was all I offered, a cautious response which seemed to sate his appetite for conversation for the moment.

In fact, those were about all the words that we exchanged until we were in the car. Those five minutes it had taken to go from Allison's lab to the Sheriff's SUV had been very long. I climbed in, and congratulated myself for getting my labored breathing under control before Carter had walked around the car and climbed into the driver's seat. Before he turned the keys to start the engine, however, he turned to face me. "So… how do you feel?"

I would have thought that Allison had kept the upper echelon of Eureka updated on my status, but since he made the effort - and I had just promised myself to do the same - I decided to humor him. "Not too bad, considering."

Filthy lies; I felt terrible. I was sore, the five minute walk to the car should have been two, and only my pride had kept me from leaning on him on the way. On the other hand, not too many people could claim they walked through a couple of wormholes, not to mention still living on the other side. Maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought, so I decided to share a little more.

"I'm still sore all over. Walking is a pain in the ass, quite literally." That at least had him grin a little bit. "I apparently am somewhat half cyborg, which is equal parts cool and very, very terrifying. I still haven't really wrapped my head around it, so I'm sure once that happens, I will have a proper freakout. Not to mention I have 'appointments with Doctor Blake' for the next three months, because they want to ensure that their walking investment is working to the highest standards."

We both rolled our eyes at that. At least we had that much in common. He started the car and got on the road, the wind blowing through my short hair as he opened the windows.

"But, as you may have noticed, I'm still alive," I said, fake cheer lacing my tone. "That's gotta count for something, right?"

"Right," Carter snorted at my sarcasm, "as long as you don't start quoting Terminator while I'm in earshot, we're golden. Otherwise, I'm liable to shoot you," he added with a smile.

I raised an eyebrow. "What, no love for the classics?"

He gave me an exasperated look, although the smile stayed in place. "Son, you are barely allowed to watch those movies, that's how young you are."

We continued bickering in good fun for what seemed to be hours, right up to when we pulled into the parking spot in front of Café Diem.

"Well, here we are, Morten," the Sheriff said as he unlocked the car doors. "Off you go."

Apparently he wanted me out of his car and off his back, and I was more than happy to oblige; I still had a mystery guest to find. I patted his shoulder and stepped out before leaning in through the window. "Thanks for the ride, Sheriff Carter. Tell Sarah and your daughter that I said hi."

I didn't wait to see his reaction; by the time my words were registered, I had already turned around and was jogging over to the entrance. That also had the most welcome side effect that Carter couldn't see my smirk.

I took a deep breath once I was inside letting the myriads of delicious smells wash over me. For all the accidents and mishaps Eureka was subjecting its inhabitants to, the one constant silver lining to everything was Vincent's café and its exquisite delicacies. It smelled heavenly in here, day and night.

A quick cursory glance over the crowd inside did nothing to sate my curiosity; all the people in here I recognized as locals. Mostly scientists, but also a few teens. I couldn't remember if Tesla High was on holiday, but if they weren't, those kids were definitely skipping class. I didn't worry though. It would be a dramatic statistical outlier to have more than one kid skipping class at all, and then all of them going to Vincent's on top of that. Not that I could fault them for trying; I would probably murder for his food, let alone skip class.

"Hi Morten!" the man in question greeted from behind the counter, waving at me with a dish towel in hand and a friendly smile on his face.

The 'mission' temporarily forgotten, I wasted no time going over and greeting him with a short hug over the counter.

"My favorite citizen of Eureka! Do you have any experiments I could help you with?" I asked with a smirk, knowing full well that there never wasn't one.

Vincent's smile only grew at that. "See, that's why I like you so much! Wait a minute, I have to go get it from the freezer." The cloth was thrown haphazardly to the side and Vincent ducked into the back of the shop where that giant fridge of his was storing all those goodies that made my mouth water just by thinking of them.

Thankfully, he was really only gone a minute, or else the plan to rob him blind would have taken actual forms. I knew that the food was free of charge, theoretically… but there just was something about actually owning it that made me feel a little tingly all over. When he came back, he was holding a platter for me to see and put it on the counter, removing the metal top with a flourish.

There, on a small white plate, sat a yellow orb, roughly the size of a marble, .

My eyes wandered from the orb to Vincent, then back to the orb, then back to Vincent. "So… are you going to tell me something about this orb?" I asked with a smile.

Vincent just smirked. "Nope." Then he shrugged, his eyes gleaming with joy. "Well, maybe don't bite into it if you don't want a mess."

I gave him a flat stare. I knew a setup when I saw it. "If I bite into this and it turns out to be ultra spicy, I'm going to slap you. Still want me to try it?"

He laughed, shrugged, and crossed his arms. Threatening him with bodily harm would have usually revealed any plot to trick me into eating things, so I shrugged as well and popped the marble into my mouth.

"Don't bite it; just keep it there and let the magic happen."

I raised an eyebrow at that, but complied anyway. And boy was I rewarded for that. The outside of the ball felt like an ice cube, and grew gradually warmer as it melted. The inside was still liquid and almost too hot to eat, but still pleasant. My whole mouth was filled with the taste of fruits, of which I informed Vincent after I swallowed it down. The whole ordeal had maybe lasted a minute, probably less.

"Mango, pineapple, papaya… a hint of vanilla as well," I commented appreciatively. "What's with the texture?"

"Flash frozen," he revealed with a proud smile. "An almost boiling smoothie coated in layers of ice."

I gave him a high five over the counter. "Nice!"

He chuckled at my antics, and nodded slightly towards the door. "I would love to take more of your time, but I think I'd need to get in line now."

That reminded me of why I had come here in the first place. I had a few guesses, but all of them went flying out of the window when I turned around.

The breath I hadn't realized I had held in was released when I found words again; even then, all that came out was her name.

"Alexis?!"