Der Kleine Prinz

"So you fixed him?" Penny asked, relieved at the sight of Kurt slowly opening his pure blue eyes.

"No, I didn't…that was only temporary," Artie said as he supported Kurt, who was trying to sit up.

"Bl…Blaine…" Kurt grunted, his tongue feeling thick in his mouth. Everything was so blurred around him that he couldn't figure out where he was. Some sort of light was blinding him and the ache was preventing him from opening his eyes. His head was pounding almost unbearably, and his entire body seemed to not be responding to his commands.

"How can we fix you?" Artie inquired of him, his voice seeming too far away to make sense.

"Hey! Hey, how can we fix you?" the hacker asked again, repeating the question several times before Kurt could understand what he was saying.

"F-Fix m-me?" the android tried to say, but the words came out too slurred and he began to feel the coldness kicking in again. The shivers were returning and he could feel them almost begging to spread inside of his body, spine and bones, as if they could freeze him inside and out.

"How did your creator fix you when this happened to you?" Artie questioned the confused android again, only bewildering him more. His creator? What was this man talking about?

"Kurt! Kurt, look at me. How did your dad fix you when you felt this way?!" Walter asked, grabbing Kurt's face and forcing the android to look into his worried hazel eyes.

"I-I don't k-know" Kurt murmured, responding to the federal agent's question, feeling as though he was drowning in the hazel of Walter's eyes. They were the same color as Blaine's eyes. As his mind filled with thoughts of the older boy, Kurt's stomach flipped and a warm feeling spread throughout his body.

Kurt tried to focus on the warmth, because that was what he needed. He tried keeping his eyes open, but it was too hard. His eyelids felt too heavy and the cold feeling overtaking him was too intense. In a matter of seconds the android was unconscious again.

"Dammit!" Artie hissed. "Get that bag over there for me, Penny!" he said to Penny, pointing to a bag placed on the coffee table.

She quickly got the bag and handed it to Artie, who spread all of its contents out on the coffee table. Taking a small pocket knife in his hands, Artie placed its blade in the base of Kurt's neck.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Walter shouted, holding Artie's wrist and stopping him from cutting Kurt's skin.

"I'm doing what you told me to do, fixing him! Now let go of me!" Artie demanded Walter, looking into the man's eyes. The older man let go of Artie's wrists, allowing the young hacker to proceed with whatever he was planning to do. He didn't have any other choice other than to trust Artie; the boy was his only hope.

Artie, pressing the blade into Kurt's skin, made a rectilinear cut following the line of his spine. Some blood flowed out as the artificial flesh was cut, which frightened Penny.

"You're hurting him!" she cried, clenching onto Walter's coat.

"I'm not hurting him! I'm looking for a way to access his system," Artie muttered, opening the cut and focusing his attention on finding an interface.

"Hand me that instrument over there," Artie directed seconds later, pointing to a small yellow device. It was similar to a voltmeter, with two cables, one black and one red, a small screen and a small keyboard.

"What are you doing?" Walter asked, giving Artie the device.

The hacker plugged the small device into an entry hidden in the back of Kurt's neck, close to the beginning of his metallic skull.

"Most Androids have entries like this that allow us to connect peripheral devices to their central processing." Artie explained, typing almost frantically on the small device's keys as numbers appeared on its screen. "And this peripheral device over here is what will allow us access to his system."

"So can you discover what's wrong with him?" Walter asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, yeah, kind of," Artie said "Now can you two shut up please? I can't do my work if I have to keep answering your questions," he said, his eyes focused on the small screen.

"Okay, okay. No more questions," Walter assured Artie.

"Fuck!" The young hacker grunted in frustration just minutes later. "I can't access his operating system. It's protected by an access code. Is there any chance that one of you knows his access code?"

"His access code?" Penny frowned, looking at Walter. The older agent shook his head, confused. They didn't have any such information; actually, they had no information at all.

"Dammit. It'll take me hours to figure out the code just by guessing," Artie said, biting his lower lip. He needed more information and more time. He had never worked with such an advanced model as Kurt, which meant that breaking his security system wouldn't be easy.

"He doesn't have time! His temperature is getting colder and colder by the second!" Walter shouted.

"Oh, really? I hadn't noticed that!" Artie said sarcastically. "Thank you, Walter, for stating the obvious!"

"Look kid, I don't know who you think you are, but-" Walter began, raising his tone of voice.

"Who do I think I am? I'm the one who's going to fix this boy, now unless you have any helpful information, it would be nice if you would please shut up and let me work," Artie boldly interrupted the older man before turning his attention to Penny. "I need you to use your Taser on him again."

"W-what?" the ginger girl asked. "Isn't that dangerous?"

"Yes, but you don't have time. Maybe Kurt can tell us himself what his access code is, so I need him to be awake." Artie pleaded

"Okay," Penny said in a small voice. With trembling hands, she discharged another electrical pulse into Kurt, whose muscles contracted instantly.

The android opened his eyes seconds later, whimpering at the strong pain in his neck. What was happening? Why was he feeling so much pain?

"Kurt, do you know your access code?" a voice asked him, but he was in too much pain and too confused to answer.

"Kurt! Focus!" Walter said grabbing his face and forcing him to look into his eyes again.

"Do you know anything about an access code?" He asked. Kurt closed his eyes murmuring a weak "no" as an answer.

"Alright, alright what would be important enough to your dad that he could use as an access code?" Walter asked slowly.

"D-der k-kleine prinz…" Kurt muttered, closing his eyes again.

"What did he say?" Artie rustled anxiously. He didn't understand a word of what Kurt had just said.

"Der Kleine Prinz! It means The Little Prince in German!" Penny yelled. It was at times like this she was glad she was such a fan of Antoine de Saint-Exup�ry. She had all of the editions of his book The Little Prince, including the one in German.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Walter frowned, confused.

"Well, it's not the access code," Artie said as his attempt to access Kurt's system using those words failed.

"The first edition of The Little Prince was published in 1943," Penny said nervously, making Artie quickly type the numbers 1, 9, 4 and 3. He really hoped that Penny's guess was the right one. He didn't know how many guesses he would be allowed to try before the android's system shut down completely.

The hacker squealed happily, finally managing to access Kurt's operating system.

"You made it in?" Penny inquired.

"Yes, yes. Now I am trying to figure out what's wrong with him." Artie murmured before his eyes widened. "God..." he breathed, looking shocked.

"What?" Walter inquired. "Did you find out what is wrong with him?"

Ignoring the older man's questions, the young hacker kept typing several codes into his small device.

All that it indicated was that Kurt was infected with some kind of malware that was attacking his system. It was now stopping his security programs, which seemed to be related to his secondary functions, such as body heat, in order to access the folders where his operating system was located.

Why someone would infect Kurt with such program? Artie thought, confused. Infecting an Android with a malware was one of the most difficult tasks for a hacker. Only a few people he knew were capable of doing such a thing, and Artie couldn't believe that a hacker in his right mind would disable an android like Kurt. He was a scientific miracle, and anyone who loved technology to the point of having such knowledge shouldn't be able to harm something as amazing as him.

Putting his doubts aside and focusing his mind on fixing Kurt, Artie began to work in isolation. He removed the malicious program without mistakenly deleting any essential operating system file. It wasn't exactly an easy quest, since he was working almost blindly here. He didn't really know Kurt's operating system or how to identify precisely what was an essential file and what wasn't.

Once he had discovered the malware and isolated it, Artie pressed the Delete button on the screen of his small device, removing the file.

"I think I got it," he murmured, relieved. But his relief didn't last for too long, because Kurt pushed the young hacker away and managed to unplug the cable connected in his neck, falling on his back and shaking.

"What's happening?" Penny inquired, scared. "You said you had it!"

Before Artie could come up with some sort of explanation, the light shaking overtaking the android's body turned into a violent trembling. Kurt's eyes were rolling behind his head and his hands were tightly clenching the couch under him, so forcibly that his thumbs began to turn white.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO TO HIM!?" Walter roared angrily, gripping Artie's shirt and causing the young hacker to panic.

Apparently he had screwed things up really badly this time.

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"C'mon, Blaine, I'll drive you home," Quinn said quietly, caressing Blaine's face with her fingers. He seemed so broken and in so much pain. She had only seen him in that state on three other occasions.

The first time she had seen that look in her best friend's eyes was during Cooper's funeral. Blaine had clutched his mother's dress and attempted to hide himself from the people approaching him and telling him that they were sorry for his loss. The second time was after Walter had left home. Blaine had run to her house, holding his favorite toy clutched to his chest. He had begged her to never leave him and had asked his best friend what he had done wrong because people seemed to just keep leaving him.

And the last time had been during the second semester of their junior year when Blaine was punched in front of the whole school and had been called a faggot by the boy he had a crush on, after finally having the courage to tell the boy how he felt. After that, she never heard her friend telling her that he liked a boy ever again.

Quinn didn't like that look. Blaine was her source of strength; she was usually the one who ran to him, needing comfort and protection. Seeing the person that usually protected her from pain looking so devastated hurt her in such a deep way that she didn't even care about the fact that Puck, her current love obsession, had a black eye and it was Blaine's doing.

She was too focused on her best friend, who she knew was feeling exhausted between his break down and everything that had happened. He leaned into her touch, closing his eyes as she gently cupped his face. "I don't want to go home," he mumbled, the same way he had told her years ago, with the same vulnerability in his voice, only this time without his favorite toy clutched against his chest.

Blaine didn't want to be there waiting for Walter to break another promise, and he didn't want to be there when his dad came back to tell him that Kurt didn't make it, much the same way he had told Blaine about Cooper years ago.

He wouldn't be able to bear reliving that pain all over again, especially after holding Kurt in his arms and promising the young boy that everything would be okay.

"You can crash at my place then," Quinn offered, resting her forehead against his and looking straight into his hazel eyes, trying to comfort him. "It will be like the sleepovers we used to have," she murmured, cracking a small smile at the memories of the two of them making forts out of sheets to protect themselves from the monsters that lived under their beds.

There was so much caring in her words, in her gestures, and such a strong bond between those two friends that the other broken teens around them couldn't help but feel their eyes water a little.

Some of them felt slightly envious of that bond, wishing to be able to have such a strong friendship, but most were just feeling moved by the demonstration of affection.

Santana held Brittany, who was actually crying now, tears running her face as she innocently asked her girlfriend if they could adopt Blaine. Sam couldn't help but think of his brothers, secretly promising himself that he would never leave them. Even Mike, who was always so quiet and distant, couldn't help but feel his heart tighten a little.

And of course, seeing all of his friends watching Blaine and Quinn's little scene drove Puck mad. He had been attacked seconds ago and now everyone was already feeling sorry for the hobbit? For God's sake, he was the one with the black eye!

"You have to be fucking kidding me!" Puckerman shouted angrily.

"Don't," Santana hissed, gripping Puck's jacket and stopping him before he could walk in Blaine and Quinn's direction and start another fight.

"Don't? That little freak attacked me out of nowhere and you want me to just sit and watch as she takes care of him as if he was the one who was attacked?!" Puck shouted.

"Don't you see how messed up he is? Leave it, man," Sam said, making Puck even angrier.

"Why is every damn person here defending him? He attacked me! He hurt one of us!" the taller boy shouted. He had just been punched in the face and everyone seemed to be ignoring that!

"Don't be such a fucking hypocrite, Puckerman! You may have never physically hurt any of us, but everyone here knows how badly you messed up Fabray!" Santana growled, clenching her jaw.

"How many times has she shown up with scars from cutting herself, or with red eyes from crying because of what you fucking do to her?!" she concluded, silencing the taller boy. Everyone knew how he treated Quinn, and no one besides Blaine ever did or said anything to him. Puckerman had been deserving of more than a punch for a long time and he was already pissing the Latina girl off with all of his whining about how Blaine had attacked him.

"Are you gonna take him home with you, Fabray?" Santana inquired, looking at Quinn as she was helping Blaine up. "Because you know, my place always has room for a fucked up kid."

"Don't worry San, I got him…We'll see you guys tomorrow. And Puck, put some ice on your face," the pink haired girl said, leaving the dark alley and her friends behind. She would take Blaine home and take care of him now. She could solve her problems with Puck tomorrow.

"You really do look like a mess, B," she said, hopping into her car as her best friend did the same.

"You really think that Kurt's not gonna make it?" Quinn whispered, turning the key in the ignition as Blaine curled up in the passenger seat.

"Walter promised that everything would be alright," Blaine murmured as he began to draw random patterns in the moisture condensed on the cold glass. It seemed so cold outside, just like Kurt's skin...

"And that's good, right? If Walter promised that it's going to be okay…" Quinn trailed off, trying to be optimistic.

"Let's just say that I learned throughout the years to never trust Walter's promises…" the boy murmured in an almost inaudible way as tears fell from his eyes.

---------------------------------------------------

"I asked you what you did to him!" Walter shouted furiously.

"I fixed him?" the boy said in a small voice, clearly frightened by the rage that he saw in Walter's eyes. Whoever this android was, he seemed to be really important to the federal agent.

"You did what?! I asked you to fix him!" the older man shouted as he tightened his grip on Artie's PJs. "He seems worse to me!"

"He's getting warmer!" Penny squealed, touching Kurt's skin as the trembling stopped.

"What?" Walter said incredulously. He turned to his partner who was kneeling beside Kurt with a hand placed on his forehead.

"He's getting warmer Walter! Kurt's warmer!" the ginger girl cried.

Letting go of Artie's shirt, Walter ran towards the couch where Kurt had been laid. He knelt beside Penny and placed his hand tentatively above the android's forehead.

"H-he is warmer!" Walter exclaimed, amazed as Penny nodded, smiling widely. Some tears were running down her freckled cheeks, her face clearly showing that these were tears of joy.

Wrapping her arms around her partner, the girl buried her face in his shoulder, feeling relieved. "He's warmer, Walter, he's getting better," she kept whispering, tightening her embrace around him.

"He is, Penny, he is," Walter said, reciprocating Penny's hug.

Kurt was okay, and for the first time in years, Walter would be able to fulfill a promise to his son. The federal agent couldn't feel happier or more relieved.

"I told you I had fixed him," Artie snorted, fixing his shirt and giving the two federal agents a superior glare. Sure, he'd had no idea what he was doing when he had been trying to fix Kurt, but they didn't need to know that.

"Thank you, thank you so much!" Penny cried, still hugging Walter.

"You're welcome. But if you don't mind, do you care to explain what the hell's going on here?" the young hacker demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

These two had some serious explaining to do.

-----------------------------------------------------

"So correct me if I'm wrong…you two found the most advanced android in existence inside a secret lab in Lima Heights, next to a dead body, and you didn't shoot him down or turn him in because he seemed too human?" Artie inquired, reciting back what he understood of Walter and Penny's explanations.

"Yeah, pretty much that… and then Walter took him home," Penny concluded. The ginger girl was seated on the living room couch with Kurt visibly better and sleeping peacefully in her lap.

"You took him home? Really? You?" Artie inquired, disbelievingly. Walter Anderson, the same federal agent that had arrested him numerous times before, always following every single rule and protocol so carefully, was now hiding and protecting the most advanced form of illegal technology in existence? If he hadn't actually seen Kurt, he would have never believed the man.

"I swear, if I hadn't fixed Kurt minutes ago, I would think that this was some kind of joke," the boy in the wheel chair said.

"We can count on you to keep this a secret, right?" Penny asked, her fingers caressing Kurt's chestnut hair.

"Am I going to keep a secret involving the most advanced illegal model robot I have ever seen? Hell, yeah," he said, smiling. Artie didn't care how famous he could become by exposing Kurt. After hearing this story, he just wanted to help the android and find out how he had been built.

Moving around his small apartment in his metallic wheel chair, the young hacker approached an old picture frame on the wall with a huge picture of Darth Vader inside of it and made a strange pattern on the picture.

"What are you doing?" Walter asked.

"Helping you guys," the boy answered as the wall where the Darth Vader picture was hanging began to move, revealing a metal door.

"You've got to be fucking kidding me! Does everyone have a secret lab at home nowadays?" Walter exclaimed, making Penny laugh a little.

"Bring the android. We're going to find out what he is made of," Artie said, enjoying the sight of Walter's confused expression.

------------------------------------------------------

"Does his mother know he's here?" Blaine heard Mrs. Fabray ask her daughter as he sat waiting in Quinn's room. He was lying on Quinn's bed, staring at the door and listening to Mrs. Fabray's lecture to Quinn about how she should warn her before bringing people over to spend the night.

"He's living with his dad now, mom," Quinn's said, and Blaine could almost see her rolling her eyes by the sound of the irritation in her voice.

"So Walter knows about his son spending the night here?"

"Yes," Quinn lied.

"I don't know if I like the idea of this, Quinn…" her mother murmured, in a failed attempt to not be heard by Blaine who, in fact, was capable of hearing every single word that she said.

"Mom!" Quinn hissed, sounding clearly annoyed. "Blaine's gay!"

"I know he's gay, sweetheart, but you see the way he dresses? What will the neighbors think, after seeing someone with such peculiar style, spending the night at our house?" Mrs. Fabray asked, biting her lower lip at the thought of what other people would think at the sight of a boy covered with piercings and wearing ripped clothing, spending the night at her house.

"Yes mom, I've already seen the way he dresses, it's the same way I dress! You really think that the neighbors don't know already how fucked up your daughter is? Did you forget that I got pregnant 2 years ago?" Quinn hissed in a mix of anger and embarrassment over her mother's comments. Her mother used to be Barbara's best friend. She had known Blaine since he was a kid, how could she talk about him like that?

"Don't speak to me like that, Quinn. I'm your mother!" Mrs. Fabray hissed.

"And Blaine's my best friend! A boy almost died in his arms today! There's no way I'm gonna leave him alone just because of what my neighbors might think!" the girl shouted back, glaring at her mother defiantly.

"A boy almost died? Quinn, you guys aren't dealing with drugs now, are you? Oh God, what is your father going to say when he finds out about this?" the woman wailed, placing a hand dramatically over her chest.

"What does dad have to do with all this!? Dad left us, mom! It's been two years!" Quinn shouted. She hated the way her mother still threatened her by saying that she would tell her father what she had been doing. Quinn's father didn't care about what his daughter was doing. He was too busy fucking some brainless woman who was twenty year younger than him on some tropical island.

Mr. Fabray was biggest hypocrite alive. He had kicked Quinn out of his house after he found out about her pregnancy, alleging that she had brought shame to his family. A few months later, he was caught cheating on Quinn's mom with his secretary.

"And who's fault was that?!" the older woman asked, venom dripping from her words. Mrs. Fabray never lost an opportunity to blame Quinn for her own failed marriage. It was a lot easier to point out what was wrong with her daughter than to look at her own mistakes and flaws.

"I-I can't believe you just said that!" Quinn shouted. She could feel tears burning her eyes, but she wouldn't give her mother the satisfaction of seeing her cry.

"I won't answer that, because unlike you, I don't like to blame other people for my mistakes to make myself feel better!" the girl whispered, glaring furiously at her mother before turning her back and entering her room, slamming the door shut behind her.

"We have the most fucked up parents ever, don't we?" Blaine asked, seeing his best friend standing against the bedroom door, panting heavily and fighting against tears.

"I-I don't know… That octomom was pretty crazy, don't you think?" Quinn mocked, sitting on her bed beside Blaine and giving the boy the chance to support his head on her shoulder as he looked up at the old pictures and posters glued to Quinn's wall.

"Why is everything is so fucked up, Q?" the boy asked, looking at an old picture of them. They had probably been five or six years old in that picture. Blaine was wearing a bowtie and red shorts as he tightly hugged Quinn, who was wearing her favorite pink dress and a matching princess tiara. They seemed so happy and everything seemed so simple. There wasn't death, self-hate, or destructive relationships ruining their lives. In those days, their only concerns were if their mommies were going to make them sandwiches shaped as then, they weren't known as the problematic kids or the kids that embarrassed their parents in front of the neighbors.

"If I promise you that everything's going to be okay, would you believe me?" Quinn whispered into Blaine's hair.

"If you did, I would," he whispered, lying in her lap like a small child seeking warmth.

"Then I promise you, B..." she murmured softly, turning off the lights. "Everything is going to be alright."

--------------------------------------------------------

Even though Artie called it the lab of illegal technology, Walter observed that it didn't even have half of the technology or the number of computers that Burt's lab had. There were only four or five computers, one bench, and what seemed to be an MRI machine. It was, in a certain way, impressive for a clandestine lab, but it wasn't even close to as impressive as Burt's clandestine lab had been.

"Alright, alright, put him right there," the boy in the wheelchair said, pointing to bench.

"Is it normal for him to still be asleep?" Walter asked, holding Kurt in his arms. The boy did seem better. His skin was warmer and his color looked healthier. But Walter didn't understand a thing about androids or how they worked, and he wanted to be sure that Kurt really was okay.

"Yes, it's normal. He's just exhausted. His system was attacked by a virus that tried to delete his whole operation system for god's sake!"

Walter looked at Artie in confusion. "I still don't understand…"

Artie sighed. "Kurt was infected with a virus designed to delete his whole operating system. If this malware had succeeded, no matter what we tried Kurt wouldn't work again."

"Couldn't we just reestablish his whole operating system?" Penny asked.

"I think only the person who programed him would be able to do such thing. And even if we did find a way, which would be highly unlikely and take years, maybe decades to do, most of the details that make Kurt so human would be lost in the process."

"Oh my god..." Penny gasped. "How did someone have the courage to infect Kurt with such virus?"

"Well, someone did, and I have to say, the person who infected him knew Kurt's programming really well, maybe too well. I am just guessing here, but I think that it was the designer of his programming that infected him."

"Wait... Are you saying that Burt infected Kurt with a virus?" Penny asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"That doesn't make sense. He treated Kurt like his son! Why would Burt infect Kurt which such thing?!" Walter shouted, confused and slightly angry. He couldn't believe that Burt would treat Kurt as a son for so long, making the boy believe in his humanity, only to get rid of him years later. Why? Was Kurt only a prototype? He couldn't be that selfish. That would be too egoistic and sick.

"I don't think that Burt was the one who did that," Artie said.

"What do you mean? Didn't you just say that the person who programed him was probably the one who infected him with the malware?" Penny asked, not really following the boy's line of thought.

"Well, if Burt, like you said, was just a mechanic, I don't think he would be able to build Kurt alone. Sure, there is someone besides him that paid for all of this. But between Burt and this Mr. Mysterious sponsor, that certainly spent a lot of money, like enough money to buy the entire city. I think that there were more people involved, possibly a team of people."

"Why don't you think Burt would be able to build Kurt alone?" Penny asked.

"Well, I'm not saying that he wouldn't be able to. There's a small chance that Burt was some kind of ultimate genius, able to do all of this alone. But if, as you said, he treated Kurt like a son, I don't see why he would have infected his own son with a malware. I also think that it is very unlikely that a project as big, expensive, and ambitious as Kurt would be result of the work of a single person."

"So, specifically the person who made his programming was the person who infected him," Walter concluded.

"I think so. I found a security bug in his system," the young hacker said, looking at the confused expressions on the two federal agents in front of him "It's like a flaw, an error that allowed this malware to work in the first place," he explained.

"And you think that Kurt's programmer purposely committed this mistake..." Walter trailed off.

"So that he or she could infect Kurt with this malware whenever and however they want," Penny murmured, her eyes wide. Someone out there was trying to get rid of Kurt, someone who had been involved in the creation of him.

"But how did this person infect him?" Walter asked.

"Well, as with any other android, Kurt probably needs some maintenance from time to time. You know, to fix anything that isn't working well, to upgrade his system. The programmer probably used one of those occasions to install the malware," Artie explained.

"Oh my god…" Penny mumbled, covering her mouth. This case was much bigger and more complicated than she had thought.

"Burt is dead and Kurt was infected with a virus that would shut him down. In my opinion there is someone out there desperately trying to erase the evidence that can connect him or her to Kurt's project," Artie said, sounding worried. Whoever this person was, he or she was extremely dangerous and cold hearted. Only a very cruel and cold person would be willing to shut down an android like Kurt. A robot who believed so much in his own humanity that he was capable of convincing Walter Anderson, the most straightforward FDCT agent, of all people, that he was a human. This programmer was dangerous. Really dangerous.

"Well, this is a lot of new information to digest," Walter murmured.

"Do you think you can handle more information?" Artie asked.

"I guess..." the federal agent murmured, running his fingers through his curly hair "Why? Did you discover more?"

"Well, not yet, but I want run some tests so we can understand how Kurt's body works," Artie answered. First, they needed to understand how Kurt worked in order to be able to understand who had built him.

"Really? Well, can you explain why he was turning cold earlier?" Penny asked.

"Of course I can. He was turning cold because the malware was stopping his security programs that seem to be related to the programs controlling his secondary functions, such as body heat."

"Why?" Walter inquired.

"Making his security programs related to the ones that control his secondary functions was a defense mechanism. If Kurt's secondary functions suddenly stopped working, his creator would be able to tell that there was a threat attacking. That was why he was cold, the warmth of his body is obviously a secondary function."

"So body temperature isn't necessary for Kurt?" Walter asked the young hacker.

"Body temperature is important to us; we're poor creatures, dependent on enzymes. But Kurt doesn't have enzymes. He doesn't even have a DNA code. Body temperature is an addition that his creator gave him to make him look and feel more human. Just like the blood that flowed when I cut him, he doesn't have blood circulation. That was fake," Artie elucidated before asking Walter to place Kurt in the weird machine that greatly resembled an MRI machine.

"Don't those machines use electromagnetic fields? You are sure that you won't burn Kurt's system by putting him in one of those?" Walter inquired, worried as he lifted the android in his arms.

"This isn't a MRI, Walter. It looks like one, and allows us to see inside of things like one, but doesn't use an electromagnetic field, so don't worry, nobody here will be having their system burned. Trust me," Artie assured them, but seeing Walter's hesitation the boy spoke again.

"Just put him in the machine! Or do you prefer that I cut Kurt to see what is inside of him?" he asked, positioning himself beside the machine and ready to turn it on.

"Alright, alright," Walter agreed, a little reluctantly, laying Kurt inside of the machine and positioning him carefully.

"This is amazing," Artie murmured as the machine began to work. Soon, detailed images of Kurt's internal structures began to show up on the screen in front of him.

"What do you see?" Penny asked, standing beside Artie.

"The most perfect machine I have ever seen in my life," Artie said reverently. It was truly moving for him see such a perfect robot.

"So, what you can tell us about him?" Walter asked, crossing his arms in an imposing way.

"Well, I can tell you that he doesn't have organs," Artie said without taking his eyes of the screen in front of him.

"So how does he eat and breathe then?" Walter inquired.

"He doesn't have organs, organs. He has an endoskeleton made of a very light material. I can't precisely tell you which material it's made out of without a proper sample of it, but I think it's some kind of metal. And he eats and breathes because his creator made a simplified digestive system for Kurt and a pair of artificial lungs as well. But Kurt doesn't need to eat or breathe. He doesn't need oxygen or nutrients obtained from food. Burt only built these mechanical systems to give Kurt more humanity. How would he have convinced Kurt that he was human if Kurt wasn't able to eat or breathe? Those are the most essential human needs."

"What covers this endoskeleton, then? And how does he obtain energy?" Penny inquired."The endoskeleton functions, including its CPU, are powered by a shielded nuclear power cell that is located within the 'heart' of the chest cavity," Artie explained.

"A nuclear power cell!?'' Walter gasped. How the hell would Burt have had access to such a thing?

"Yes, a nuclear power cell. But don't worry. Kurt isn't going to explode or anything. Most of the industrial robots are powered by similar power cells. It is completely safe and is no more carcinogenic than your cell phone."

"Cell phones are carcinogenic?" Penny asked, gasping.

"If you spend hours exchanging messages or surfing the internet on your phone, believe me, you don't want to know the answer to that question," Artie assured the young girl, making her reconsider some of her habits.

"And the flesh covering Kurt's body. Is it made of silicon, or something like that?" Walter asked.

"Silicon? No, it is silicon based. But I need to take more tests to discover the other components of the tissues that cover his endoskeleton. I know that all of them are composed and structured in different ways, by different types of elastic polymers, just like our tissues are formed by different types of cells with specific characteristics and purposes. That is why he seems and feels so realistic. And I'm pretty sure that Kurt is capable of feeling physical pain, which won't be a good thing when he wakes up and feels the cut I made in his neck."

"How are you going to fix that?" Walter inquired.

"Conveniently, the tissues of that region appear to be wieldable so I will weld the tissues and disconnect the sensors that would allow him to feel pain in that specific area. He will lose some of the sensibility there, but for now, that is all I can do," Artie said.

"Sensors?" Penny asked.

"Yes, he seems to have an artificial nervous system. See?" Artie said, pointing to an almost imperceptible web that spread throughout all of Kurt's body.

"His nervous system seems to be an almost perfect replica of a human nervous system. Like our nervous system, he also has a web of nerves and sensors capable of sensing every kind of external stimulus and all of that is connected to his center of processing, that I have to say is almost as impressive as a human brain. Well, at least to a Sci-Fi freak like me…"

"Wow, he's almost human…" Penny murmured, amazed.

"Can he… you know?" Walter asked, flushing as he did a little prayer to God, hoping Artie

understood what he meant.

"Walter, you pervert! Asking such naughty things!" Artie hissed, faking a shocked tone in his voice as he mocked the middle aged agent.

"But can Kurt… You know…" Penny asked curiously, doing a little mimic to illustrate her question.

"I seriously didn't understand your little gesture, Penny, which seemed a bit disturbing, but if you're asking me if Kurt can have sex, yes, of course he can have sex! And c'mon guys, we're all adults here. We can say the world sex. See? Sex! It's not that hard," Artie mocked at the sight of Penny and Walter blushing crimson red.

"Seriously? Are you sure? He doesn't have any blood circulation…" Penny inquired, still astonished.

"Yes, Penny, I'm sure. Of course, he isn't fertile or anything, but Kurt is perfectly capable of having a sex life. Please guys. Robots were used for sexual satisfaction before the anti-humanization laws. And they didn't have blood-circulation. People would actually leave their husbands and wives to lock themselves in rooms with those machines. If those antiquated robots were able to satisfy their owners, with all their flaws and all that silicon, do you really think that an android as perfect and fleshy as Kurt would be incapable of sexual intercourse?"

"I really don't know how to deal with this information," Walter muttered, looking dazed.

"Well, buy him some condoms and give him a little sex talk," Artie said, clearly terrifying Walter with his suggestion.

"W-what?" the older man gasped. He hadn't even given his son a sex talk, how would he give Kurt one?

"Don't worry Walter. I'll buy the condoms and give him the talk," Penny assured the stunned agent, trying to sound responsible and tranquilize her partner. But that just made Walter even more petrified.

Penny giving someone a sex talk? Penny was the sweet, innocent girl who had bangs and puppy eyes! What kind of advice could she possibly give?

"Can we drop the subject? I have mental images in my head that will never allow me to sleep peacefully again," Walter said as he shook his head, trying to get rid of all of those thoughts.

"You're the one who asked," Artie laughed.

"Well, is there anything else you want to know?" the young hacker asked, saving Kurt's information in his computer. He had a lot to study later.

"No, no, I think that's all for now," Walter told him, taking Kurt out of the machine.

"Can we take him home now?" Penny asked as Artie continued to type numbers and statistics on his computer.

"I think so. But don't you think it is best for him to spend the night here? You know, just for precautionary measures?" Artie offered, not taking his eyes off of the computer screen.

"We aren't going to leave him alone," Walter said. When Kurt would wake up, he would want explanations. He would need someone he knew at his side.

"You two can stay if you want, it's late already and I have some old air beds you can use," Artie offered, finally turning his attention to the two agents standing in front to him. "And there is another Star Wars marathon about to start. You know, I wouldn't mind some company, and we can discuss how we are going to solve Kurt's case during the commercials."

"Wait a minute… We ?" Walter repeated. Was Artie thinking that he was going to help them in the investigation? There were too many people involved already, and Walter didn't want have to deal with a nerdy hacker with an extensive criminal record messing with his investigation.

"Duh, of course. Or did you really think you could bring to me the most amazing robot ever and expect me to not wonder how he was built?" Artie asked, rolling his eyes.

"Things will never be the way I want them to be, will they?" Walter asked, hopelessly sighing to his partner as he laid Kurt down on the couch.

"Nope. Never," Penny assured him, chuckling and giving Artie a hi-five. After all, the boy had just become a new ally in their quest.