“So, in the end- ow!- in the end, it was really all –ow!- all my fault. Michelle didn’t know what was going- ah jeez, that stings! She didn’t know what was going on. And if she did, well I’m pretty-ow! Pretty sure I wouldn’t be here” said Joe, wincing as Dr. Fisher examined Joe’s head, cleaning it as best he could. Joe had been in the process of telling Dr. Cale and Dr. Fisher the story of how he got his head wound, as well as filling Jake in on a few details he hadn’t mentioned earlier. Dr. Cale sat in a chair, arms folded across her chest, and Jake leaned up against a nearby wall, listening to Joe’s story.

“So there was something else going on,” he muttered, his suspicions confirmed. Dr. Fisher finished cleaning Joe’s wound and stepped back.

“Well, you don’t have a concussion, I cant tell you that, but I do have some good new and some bad news,” he said, and Joe looked at him nervously.

“Bad news first, please,” he said, and Dr. Fisher sighed.

“Bad news is, the wound is too big for it to fully heal all by itself. I’m afraid your going to need stitches Joe,” he said, and Joe’s heart sunk.

The fact that Joe was going to need stitches was bad enough, but what made it worse was that stitches meant no growing back to his full height. If he were to try and grow with stitches in his head, that would be bad, since the stitches would stay tiny and make the wound a whole lot worse. He looked up at Dr. Cale.

Though she was still angry at Joe, Dr. Cale felt sorry for him. She could only imagine what it was like to be so small and helpless. Dr. Cale shifted her gaze over to Dr. Fisher.

“How long would you say he needs until the stitches can be taken out?” she asked, and Joe looked at Dr. Fisher as well, fearing the worst.

“I’d say four days just to be on the safe side,” he said, and Joe sank in the chair he sat in. Four Days! Four days stuck at the size of an action figure. Dr. Fisher smiled and put a hand on Joe’s shoulder.

“Ah come on, Joe lighten up! At least it’s not forever,” he laughed, and Joe perked up.

“Yeah, you’re right,” he said, looking into Dr. Fisher’s eyes. He was smiling, but Joe saw sadness behind them. Dr. Fisher suffered from the same genetic mutation Joe did, only it wasn’t natural like his, it was accidental, and permanent on top of that. Joe reminded himself of this fact and tried to brush off the four days like they were nothing, since in Dr. Fisher’s case, they were.

“So what’s the good news?” he asked, and Dr. Fisher smiled.

“After hearing your story, I, and I hope Dr. Cale, think that no serious punishments are needed here,” he said, and looked at Dr. Cale, who reluctantly agreed. She was peeved; no doubt about it, but Dr. Fisher had a point. Joe had done the best he could in a rotten situation. Yes, he should have maybe been more careful the night before and taken it down a notch on the drinking, but Dr. Fisher’s conversation from earlier resonated in her mind. He indeed, was, only human. And a young one at that.

“Oh, that’s good news,” said Joe, not all that enthusiastic. Dr. Fisher laughed.

“Oh, that’s not the good news. The good news is, since your not being punished, we have a little gift for you,” he said, and Dr. Cale reached into her pocket and pulled something out. She than placed the small box in front of the two men. Joe picked it up and shook it. It was about the size of a box that a chessboard would come in, only it was plain and white. Joe shook it, but heard nothing, yet the box felt heavy. Curious, he opened the top and his eyes grew wide.

“No way! Oh man, it’s done?!” he said excitedly, feeling the texture of the cloth that lay inside.

“Haha, I thought you’d be excited. It came in a few days ago, and we were gonna give it to you at your next appointment. But, since you’re here,” Dr. Fisher let the moment speak for him, as Joe pulled the cloth out of the box. It turned out to be more than just cloth, but a whole suit.

“Oh man this is sick!” said Joe, staring at the suit with wide eyes.

If it were normal sized, someone would look at it and think it was just some dark gray, almost black, scuba suit. But Joe knew it was more than that. They had been working on a special suit for Joe for some time now, and he had eventually stopped asking them about it, for fear they would just give up on it all together.

See, when Joe shrank down in size, none of his clothes ever shrunk with him, leaving him cold and naked as the day he was born. One of the unfortunate side affects of being tiny was that he couldn’t retain his body heat all that well, leaving him incredibly cold and vulnerable to freezing to death.

But the suit would fix all that. Not only could it change size with him, but it would help him retain body heat better. Not to mention it looked totally BADASS! It was a sleek black color, with white vibrant lines stretching across it. It had been Joe’s design, and they had put it on the suit like he had asked.

“I have to put this on!” said Joe, but Dr. Fisher stopped him.

“Woah there Joe, now hold on a second. First, we need to get your head stitched up, and secondly, it’d be best if we got you somewhere more private, don’t you think?” he asked, and Joe blushed.

“Oh, right, of course,” he said, sitting back in the chair, putting the suit in his lap. He had gotten so excited that he had forgotten about the fact that he couldn’t just strip right then and there. He looked over at Jake and held up the suit.

“I got the suit, dude!” he said, and Jake smiled, giving him the thumbs up.

“You sure did,” he said, genuinely happy for Joe.

“Now, Ms. Bines, if you’d kindly sign here, here, initial here, date here, print here, aaaaaaand initial right here,” said Agent Freeman, indicating all the places for Michelle to sign and initial. In front of her lay a stack of sheets she had skimmed through. To sum it all up, they were legal documents that made it so she could not, under any circumstances, reveal the location of MuGenTek to any outside parties, as well as the nature of Joe’s condition. She reluctantly signed everything she was told to sign, not wanting to disappoint Joe, and certainly not wanting to anger Agent Freeman.

“By the way, his public medical records have been forged for the most part. His main ones are kept under serious lock and key. Let’s stay away from those for the time being, ok Ms. Bines?” asked Agent Freeman, and Michelle’s eyes grew wide.

“How do you know about that?” she asked, and he smiled.

“I know because it’s my job to know. Any time someone does any research on my little buddy, it’s up to me to be sure they’re not up to no good. You weren’t up to no good, so I let you be. Although in hindsight, I probably should have at least warned Joe about it,” he said, rubbing his chin as he thought. Michelle signed the last line and put the pen down.

“There, done,” she said, and Agent Freeman smiled.

“Good. Alright blonde, your up,” he said, picking up Michelle’s stack and thumping down a blank one for Stacy to sign. She sat down and stared at it for a moment, then looked back up at Agent Freeman.

“What if I don’t sign this?” she asked, and Michelle shot her a What-are-you-doing? look. Agent Freeman laughed and shook his head.

“Ah you’re as bad as Sullivan. Always with the question that guy was. You have the right to ask I suppose,” he sighed. As he spoke, he walked over towards a machine and flipped a switch. It looked a bit like a chair you’d find at the dentists; only it held a large helmet over it. The room’s lights dimmed for a moment, then stabilized, as the machine hummed to life.

“You don’t want to sign? No problem! Step up to this machine, I’ll PAINFULLY wipe your mind of all memories of Joe, and you can go. Though you might forget important stuff like your name or how to go to the bathroom, and you’ll lose a hell of a lot of brain cells, but hey, don’t live life without risks, am I right?” he said, patting the machine. Stacy took one look at it and picked up the pen.

“Where do I sign?” she asked, her hand shaking a bit.