"Where should I deposit this..." George was examining Kael's head as he emerged into the Infirmary "person..." He thought that the Infirmary was the best place for him. He wondered... if he was going to have to share his body to keep this boy alive while they got him a new body.

---

The head of Kale seemed dead. The only sign of "life" was the occasional flicker of light from the small bulbs on the side of his head and neck tube.

---

"We should... get you powered up." George said, moving over towards the nearest electrical source. He would need to probably plug him in somehow. George took the casing off of the plug, then began to carefully wire Kael into the power.

---

Junior came with Maribel in his arms. She was still off in la la land where the twins had put her, but he was glad she wasn't in pain. "Computer, activate EMH."

---

"P-Please state the the the nature of the m-m-medical emerg-g-gency." The hologram of Dr. McCoy said as he appeared. He flickered a little. He was getting old, in a little disrepair.

---

"She's got a broken arm." Junior told the hologram and gently laid Maribel on one of the beds.

---

George checked the head he was wiring up, hoping that it didn't respond to the description of the broken arm as well. There was still quite a lot of programming in there after all.

---

Maribel stayed still and careful with her arm, knowing it was best to protect it. She would have to thank Junior when she was able. Come to think of it... this would surely stunt her ability to communicate for several weeks until it healed.

---

There was a spark from holo Hank before the figure flickered out of existence completely before it could respond. Next came a jolt from the wiring of Kale's head in George's hand that send a surge into the main computer of the infirmary. When it appeared Hank's figure began to flicker back on, it was replaced with a humanoid character made of nothing but static....and almond shaped, black eyes.

---

"Shit..." Junior cursed. "Mari, take it easy ok... we'er going to get this fixed."

---

George looked around at the flicker, and the sudden replacement of Hank. "Hmmmm..." he said softly, before making a snap decision and saying "The girl's arm is broken. We need it to be set and mended as quickly as possible. She is already does not feel pain."

---

The voice of Hank came on for a second, but the audio was distorted and flickering...as if it had been melted or scratched. The visual of the static figure vanished, then suddenly flashed on right beside Maribel's bed. She let out a gasp and nearly toppled over the other side, having not expected that sudden movement. It was- kinda creepy. Maribel took a moment to gather herself before offering him to look at her arm. With a swipe of it's hand, the glitchy computer took an x-ray and accessed what needed to be done.

---

"The twins shut that part of her mind off." Junior told George. "They hypnotized her so she couldn't feel any pain." When Maribel nearly fell off the table he was there to catch her. "Woah, easy..." He said. "Are you in any pain?" He asked her, knowing that she shouldn't be until Jaden shut the hypnosis off. Then again they'd had a rough couple of days. The twins might be tired like everyone else.

---

"I think that this person just integrated himself into the system..." George said, placing a hand gently onto Kael's disembodied head "Very quickly... but I do wonder how we'll get him a body."

---

"Kale was a healer." Junior answered. "Presumably if we can get his head into a more suitable container, he might be able to reconstitute himself... might take a while considering the damage but... he was pretty strong." He looked to Maribel again who had been a little dazed earlier after being hypnotized. He cupped her cheek, drawing her face away from the thing that had scanned her arm. "Are you ok?" He asked carefully. "Are you in any pain? Does it hurt?"

---

Maribel smiled up at him and shook her head calmly.

---

"Good." Junior said and kissed her forehead without thinking. He turned back to George. "I think we should get Rhydian or Waya down here to look at the EMH. Someone who knows the systems. I don't think..." He looked at the static mass with almond black eyes. "If that's Kale I don't think he would hurt anyone, but I'd feel better knowing rather than guessing." He'd forgotten about Waya's exhaustion. Liz would be an obvious choice to check things out but her being AFK in her lab all the time took her out of his mental rotation.

---

Meanwhile, the static man grabbed a brace and went to Maribel again. Taking her hand, it straightened it on the flat of the bed. Placing the brace down on her wrist and forearm. Before anyone could stop him, there was pressure and and audible snap SNAP and a worried look from Maribel. IT hadn't hurt but the distaste of seeing it made her uneasy.

---

Junior's attention had been on George and he caught the movement before it was too late. "No, don't touch her!" he tried, worried that this thing that might be Kale had taken over the EMH might hurt her. But the snap had come and her arm was braced. She looked fine, but what was under the brace and inside her arm might be mangled beyond recognition. Junior would have pushed the static man away had he thought a physical attack would work on him. He grabbed one of the overhead scanners himself and not knowing much about how the equipment, managed to turn it on any way. Through the monitor, beneath the brace and inside her arm, he could see fibula he'd fractured when he fell on her. The clean white line that ran up the bone to her wrist looked fine, contained and straight in the fancy little brace. Mari would be ok. He pushed the scanner back up from where it had been hanging overhead. "It's ok." He said, more to himself than anyone else. "No damage done... except what I did..." He looked at the static man. "Thanks..."

---

The static figure only stared at Junior for a long while, then flickered off.
There was a rush of cool up Maribel's arm and their hypnosis seemed to dwindle a little and she winced, grabbing the cast gently. She tried to sign something to him, but her arm refused to move as it was very swollen.

---

"He is programmed to only help." George said flatly "Perhaps he is too robot for you to trust right now, but if anything that makes him more trustworthy. He would never do damage... though perhaps he would be more brutal in methods than others." He shook his head, then moved forward towards Maribel "How is the arm?"

---

Maribel lifted her hand and signed with one hand, "Okay." She gave him a smile, appreciative that they cared about her wellbeing. Though...she really wanted to say more.

---

Junior looked at George. "Don't make this some prejudice thing about robots." he said. "Just because we didn't get along in the past doesn't mean I have a thing against them..." He looked at the container with Kale's head. "He's my friend and I don't know what all was done to him. It's healthy to be worried." He turned back to Mari and sighed. "I really am sorry." he told her. "I didn't mean to break your arm."

---

"I could get you a voice modulator, if you so desired." George said to Maribel, deciding not to address Junior right now "It will be difficult to sign with one hand, you might need a machine to speak for you for a little while."

---

Maribel smiled at Junior and gave his forearm a squeeze with her good hand. Then, she looked at George and signed simply, "What?" She had no idea what he was talking about.

---

"A voice modulator... the simpler ones, you type in what you want to say, it will read it out for you." George said slowly "The more extensive ones I have seen have a basic telepathic field that allows them to read what you want to say from your mind, and then say it aloud."

---

Maribel nodded with a smile and signed, "Yes."

---

"Which one would you like?" George asked, nodding to Maribel.

---

"The fancy one can be programmed with your neural chip." Junior said. "But you'll have to watch what you thing verses what you say."

---

She nodded in understanding, but couldn't say which with only one hand. Instead, Maribel tapped her head.

---

"I believe those are best." George said with a little shrug, moving away "And they keep them out the back..." He disappeared, going to find Maribel something to help her speak.

---

"If you like it you can probably keep it." Junior said. "Probably should have mentioned it before, but..." He shrugged. "I think we all got used to you signing." He caressed the fingers of her left hand, the only one she'd be signing anything with for a while.

---

The corner of her black lips curled up in a smirk as she looked at him. Maribel was a bit excited for her new... talking thing. She just hoped that it wasn't too invasive. Glancing down to her hand, she watched his thumb gently roll over hers. He was such a nice guy and although it was because of his big butt that her arm had broken, Maribel didn't hold it against him. Lifting her hand from his, she signed 'Break bone?' and pointed to him, curious if he had ever broken a bone before. Her finger pointed to her brace, then held out her finger to symbolize, 'First'.

---

He seemed to understand. "Have I ever broken a bone?" He asked. "Yeah, when I was a kid before my phasing kicked in." He lifted her hand to his collar bone and guided her fingers over a mild lump beneath the skin. "I broke it jumping into the pool like an idiot... but hey, the twins helped."

---

Her eyes fluttered when she felt the little bump. She rubbed it gently, curious if her arm would have something like that. Maribel held up her hand and signed, "Why?"

---

He smiled. "The twins and I were clowning around." Junior said. "They convinced me to let them use their powers and we were so young they didn't mean to drop me like they did. We were just being dumb.

---

She didn't need to hear the rest. Maribel winced and it was clear she knew what happened. Cocking her head a bit, she motioned as if she were writing and did so on her brace, joking that he should sign it.

---

Junior smiled again. "Yeah, sure." He said. "I'll sign it. I caused it after all..." He began looking around for a felt tip pen.

---

Maribel shook her head. He didn't need to do that. It was just a foam brace with a hard, plastic shell that locked together, keeping her elbow slightly bent.

---

"Ill find one eventually." He said. "You'll wake up with graffiti all over your arm next thing you know."

---

Maribel could still only smile and nod to him, wishing she could say so much more. Hopefully George could find what he was searching for..better yet, she really hoped it worked.

---

Geore returned soon, holding a small machine in his hands. She could most likely attach it to her belt without any issue, it was very lightweight. "Here... just let me..." George raised it up, gently pressing it against Maribel's head. There seemed to be a small tuning noise, then he placed it in her hands. "Try it out."

---

The machine beeped and a deep, black man's voice said from it, "Isn't he going to tell me how to use it?" Upon hearing a voice speak, though not one to match her features, Maribel jumped and the voicebox shouted, "Ah! Sacrebleu!"

---

"Unfortunately, it seems that every single modulator back there has been set to african american male." George said, his voice dead pan "I believe it was one of the twins. There is a small dial on the back, that allows you to change the voice coming from it."

---

"Let me see..." Junior said laughing and took the small box. "Start counting or recite a poem or something." He said. "I'll see if we can't fix this."

---

Maribel nodded and the speaker began counting, "Un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq...." She kept going, letting Junior try to fix the voice.

---

The pitch of her voice began to change, softening to something more feminine. Junior went too far and for a moment she sounded something like a high voiced Asian woman. He dialed back up a few clicks and her voice was soft, but not too small. "How's that?" He asked, suddenly worried that he wouldn't be able to speak with her if all she spoke was French.

She stopped counting and 'said' one of the simplest of phrases "Hello? Oh! oh oh! Is this... I am! I'm talking?!"

---

"In a matter of speaking." George said, his voice having no sign that he'd just said a pun. Had it been intentional? "Is it acceptable?"

---

"Get over here you bucket of bolts." Maribel said in an endearing way, opening her good arm to give him a hug from the bed. Speaking was one thing... but now she could emphasize emotion through a voice. Sure, the voice was not her own, but it was wonderful for now.

---

Junior, smiling warned, "You just have to be careful about what you want to say and what you want to think. Sometimes thoughts you intended to keep private might slip out."

---

George froze a little at her words, then decided it wasn't an insult and moved over. He put one of his own arms around her, giving Maribel a close, and perhaps a little intimate hug.

---

"This is wonderful." Maribel added and parted the hug, "I will practice using it." she assured both of them. "Eee!" she bounced on her bum a little on the bed, clearly ecstatic.

---

Junior smiled. She was just too adorable. She always had been, but with her recent changed, she'd not had much to be excited about. "How's the arm?" He asked. "Do you need any pain relievers or anything like that?"

---

She shook her head and said, "No, but can we get rid of this hypnosis the twins put on me? I feel like I'm high."

---

Junior smiled. "Sure." He said and moved to pick her up because he'd been carrying her all day and it had become habit. "George, you think you can find something... bigger for Kale's head? I'll send down Liz to help you.

---

"Wow he smells good...." Maribel said when she wrapped her good arm around his shoulders. "Oh no no no! Don't say that! I didn't want to say that!"

---

Junior's cheeks, already as red as they could get, blushed white as if his energy had drawn to the surface instead of blood. He smiled, figuring since he'd been trapped in Mojo's world without a shower that he smelled like sweat. Then again, a lot of girls liked the scent of a guy after a workout. "Thanks." he told her, often confident, but now feeling a little sheepish. He didn't have to carry her. It wasn't her leg broken after all, but he couldn't seem to break the habit after doing it all day.

---

Maribel enjoyed being carried like a bride, but was suddenly nervous she would say something else she didn't want to. "Change the subject before I say something else embarrassing."

---

Junior smiled wickedly as he left George behind to deal with Kale. "Do you think I'm cute?" He asked suddenly, using her inability to buffer the modulator against her.

---

"Don't say he is sexier than-kssh" she replied and immediately held her hand over the speaker, mumbling the words that followed.

---

Junior laughed. "Now I wanna know who Kssshhh is." He said, mimicking the crackle of her modulator.

---

Maribel puckered her lips and pouted at him with a scowl. He was doing this shit on purpose.

---

Junior only laughed again and took her back upstairs to the entrance hall where the twins could disengage their hypnosis.

---

George watched on, then carefully went over to Kale's head. He picked it up and sighed, turning it carefully and saying "Do you think girls will ever like me?" He was examining the head, wondering what it would need to house it comfortably.

---

The head only stared ahead, lifeless and still. It was hard to even imagine that there was life in this being. It had no heart, no lungs... nothing but a brain and in a skull. Though almost in response to the question, there was a flicker of a figure again with static. It was gone after only a spark though and wouldn't appear again. 

---

"We should get you a better interface..." george said, before looking thoughtful. He cocked his head, then had an idea. He made his way to the back where he'd gotten the previous voice modulator. If he was correct... He returned a few moments later, then pressed it against Kale's head and made a scan. If the chip was still in there, Kale might have a voice.

---

After a moment, there was a light chimed 'beep.'

---

"Can you hear me Kale?" george said with a little cock of his head "I should be able to hear you now if you think words."

---

There was nothing however. Just a blank expression on Kale's head and static and waved in and out in volume.

---

george sighed, then gently picked up the voice modulator. He began to try and tune it, seeing if the signal was a little messed with by kale's electronics. "Come on..." he sighed to Kale "You can get through."

---

Nothing seemed to work. There was just dead static. Well not dead exactly. The white noise seemed to come in waves of volume...but whether or not that was Kale or a malfunction was uncertain.

---

George sighed, then looked down at Kale. He supposed he could do something drastic... he shook his head and moved away to get a tank, something to store Kale's head in to preserve it a bit. "I'll get some of that metal out of you... let your healing powers fix you up."

---

Again, no response came from the dead-eyed Kale.

---

"Kale, I need your help for this. While the others think I am some kind of technical genius, I am just a computer." George said as he turned the head around. Very carefully, he began to try to remove a wire that seemed unnecessary "I cannot understand things that I have no information about."

---