Life Inc.

It was only after a lot of reassurance from Harry and the feeling of a steady, supportive hand on the small of his back that Louis found himself able to knock tentatively on the front door of the unassuming bungalow in the middle of nowhere. Then they waited with bated breath until muffled voices could be heard.

"Niall, wait! You haven't even checked the monitors yet! What if it's operatives?" A first voice asked.

"Don't be daft Liam, since when have operatives nervously knocked?" A second voice replied.

"Who else is it going to be, no one else can see this place, remember?"

"It's not like I'm going to forget now, is it?"

"Guys, shut up for a second," a third voice spoke up, silencing the other two. Harry and Louis shared a glance. "I looked at the monitors...is it just me or does that look like..." Suddenly, the door flung open and there was a loud cry.

"Louis?!" Louis was suddenly engulfed in arms and blond hair. He instantly tensed against the alien contact, hand immediately seeking the comfort he gained from touching the boy he loved. Harry panicked, knowing that Louis had never experienced a full out hug before. He let his hand curl around Louis' and squeezed it comfortingly.

Louis was saved by a tall boy with kind eyes gently tugging the blond off him. He sank back into Harry's solid chest and the taller boy wrapped a protective arm around his waist.

"He probably won't remember us," the newcomer murmured to the blond as a reminder, whose eyes, nearly as blue and much more alive than Louis', grew wide. "Come in, we've been waiting for you." The boy with the kind eyes pushed the blond into the bungalow and stood aside to let the pair in. Harry released Louis but the elder immediately gripped his hand again.

Whatever they expected the inside of bungalow to look like, what they found was not it. There was a large entrance way, heavily armoured and with a number of monitors showing CCTV footage of the surrounding area. There were a few boxes and a desk, but other than that the entire space was empty. A third boy stood by a button on the wall, which he pushed as they neared, opening up a section of the wall and revealing a flight of stairs downwards.

"How do we know we can trust you?" Harry asked, pausing.

"Frankly, I'm a little more concerned as to who you are, but we'll deal with that later. For now, I know that that's Louis Tomlinson, eighteen years old, born 24th of December and that the code Dr Howard gave you to access his office was 0810107639. Happy?" The boy with the kind eyes asked, and Harry noticed that his eyes also held a hint of protectiveness and authority. He glanced over a Louis who nodded slightly, making the blond boy grin.

They led the pair down and into a large lounge area, with sofas and a large tv. Harry sat down first, with Louis sat as close as possible without actually sitting on his lap and Harry marvelled at how the protective role switched between them almost constantly. The other three sat down opposite them, each of them studying the contact between the two of them.

"Who are you?" Louis asked after a minute of thick silence. It was the boy with the kind eyes who took the deep breath to answer.

"I'm Liam, this is Niall and Zayn," he told them, pointing at the blond and the other boy respectively. "We're...your brothers, I guess."

"What?!" Louis gasped. They didn't look anything alike, he didn't understand how they could be brothers.

"Not biologically," Niall laughed, revealing an Irish lilt.

"You met Doctor Howard?" Liam asked. Harry and Liam nodded. "He is one of Life Inc's leading scientists, but he grew tired of taking away people's free will, so he started a project to take down the company. You were the first Louis. He was supposed to be chipping you, but he hid you away. Then it was Zayn, then Niall, then me. We've known each other since we were born so we're as good as brothers."

"Except I've been gone for eight years." All three frowned and Niall and Zayn shared a glance.

"We were never told you were leaving, we just woke up one morning and you were gone. Zayn was devastated and I didn't talk to the doc for a month," Niall told them. Louis found himself warming to the blond, despite his initial shock.

"Do you know why he did it? He said to ask you."

"He only told us just before he went away. We all have roles within this unit, this team. Niall is our medical man, he's been trained since he could read and can patch up pretty much anything. Zayn's tech, transport and weaponry. I'm..." Liam glanced at Niall, who grinned.

"Liam's in charge. He's the man with the plan."

"What was my role?" Louis asked tentatively.

"You were the fighter," Zayn shrugged. Louis' eyes grew wide and Harry stared down at him.

"I was what?! That can't be right!"

"Sorry, it is," Zayn shrugged again. Louis wasn't sure if Zayn liked him or not. Harry gave Louis' shoulder a small, supportive squeeze.

"What does that have to do with Lou being abandoned?" He asked.

"Doctor Howard told us that Louis had all the skills he needed, but lacked the passion. He did it so that you would have something to fight for." Louis glanced up at Harry and once again deep green met electric blue.

"I'm pretty sure I found something," Louis smiled, fingers lacing with Harry's. The move was bold and completely counter-productive to the idea of keeping his feelings very much hidden away, but Harry inspired such an intense swell of love in his chest that he simply couldn't help it. Neither of them saw the look the other three shared.

"Will you stay with us?" Niall asked after a minute, fingers twisting around each other nervously. Louis looked at them and then back to Harry.

"Did you say you were trying to take down Life Inc?"

"Yes," Liam nodded.

"So everyone who's chipped would become like us? Could see us?"

"In theory, yes. Our most important aim is to make sure that future generations aren't chipped at all. We don't know what effect shutting down the company will have on those already chipped."

"So they might not be able to see us permanently?"

"As we said, we have no idea. We've had very little chance to experiment on the chips. The doctor left when we were still too young to learn about his work properly."

"How long has he been gone?"

"About five years," Niall told him with a small sigh. "Did he mention when he's coming back?" Harry and Louis shared another look and Harry noticed the pain and guilt in Louis' eyes, making the guilt bubble up in his own chest.

"I'm so sorry guys," Harry murmured as Louis tucked himself even closer into his side. "Doctor Howard is dead." The three boys opposite them all froze. Niall's face collapsed into one of devastation, Zayn's fists clenched until his knuckles were white. Liam was the only one who gave no physical reaction, though Louis had a feeling his teeth were firmly gritted.

"How...?" Niall breathed, eyes wide and suddenly childlike. Louis saw them for the first time as the teenagers they were. He would have been like their older brother, but he had let the man they considered their father die.

"He was expecting the operatives when we arrived. I couldn't have been talking to him for more than ten minutes when they came for him. I wanted to stay and help him but they wouldn't let me."

"They as in the operatives?" Niall asked, confused.

"No. They as in Doctor Howard and Harry."

"Ah, so the stranger has a name." Liam couldn't help the glare he shot at the curly haired boy.

"I wanted to help him, of course I did. But he made me promise to look after Lou and get him to you and Louis will always be my priority," Harry defended himself, tightening his grip around the smaller boy's shoulders.

"He told me to tell you that he loves you and that he's proud of all of you," Louis told them quietly. All three looked away at this, caught up in private memories and mourning.

"Let's not think about this now," Liam said firmly after a minute. "We have Louis back and that's what matters, right?" Niall nodded his agreement but Zayn continued to stare at a spot somewhere near Louis' feet. "Louis, you have an old room you can stay in. You seem to trust him, but I will be the ultimate judge of whether he stays because this is my family and I don't want anyone hurt."

"I go where Harry goes," Louis shrugged.

"He doesn't. Even if you want me gone, he stays, as long as he's safe."

"Harry, you don't get a say in this!" Louis protested, pulling away from the younger boy.

"Of course I do. I understand that I'm a liability and that you are safer and better off here with your family."

"You're a liability? And why is that...?" Liam asked, instantly tense. Louis gulped and glanced between the two.

"Harry's chip malfunctioned when he hit his head about two months ago and it's been a little...temperamental since," Louis explained a little sheepishly.

"Temperamental?"

"I switch on and off randomly," Harry told them, fingers wrapping protectively, and a little possessively, around Louis' wrist.

"So any second now you could appear back on the system and reveal our location?" Liam asked tersely. Harry nodded and Louis moved back into his side and prayed that they weren't going to make the boy he loved leave. Niall noticed this and leant across to whisper something quickly in Liam's ear. "Right, yeah," Liam nodded in agreement to whatever Niall had said, standing up. "We have a chamber. Doctor Howard used to use it for experiments. It uses magnetic fields to scramble the chips signal and stop them finding you. Does that make everyone happy?" Louis gripped tighter onto Harry but the younger nodded, as did Niall and Zayn, if a little reluctantly. "Follow me." Liam ordered as they stood, following his lead deeper into the underground lair. "Louis, we'll start training you again, but it should be pretty easy considering you were training from practically as soon as you could walk."

"Err...thanks?"

"I know this is a shock to the system, believe me. We all thought you were dead. To see you stood on our doorstep was quite a surprise. You'll fit back in soon enough, don't worry," Liam reassured him with a smile. They carried on along corridors until they reached another large room. Zayn immediately ducked behind a desk and began to twiddle with buttons and typing on a computer with a concentrated look. Niall gently prised Harry's fingers from Louis' wrist and stood him apart a little bit, appraising him.

"Any history of medical problems?"

"No."

"Ever had an MRI scan?"

"No."

"Good. Any fillings?"

"Two."

"Metal?"

"No."

"Even better. I like this kid," Niall grinned. Liam suppressed a smile. "Right, I'm gonna need you to take off any clothes with metal on them. Jeans mainly. Here's a pair of tracksuit bottoms, you'll have to change in the corridor," the blond told him, handing him the article of clothing. Harry left and returned a minute later, changed.

"Sorry Harry, but like you said, it's about protecting Louis. We'll work out a system where you can come out when you're 'switched off' but for now, we're locking you in." Liam watched as Louis' frowned deepened and he took a tentative step forward, before reaching up to wrap his arms tightly around Harry's neck. Harry paused, surprised by the action, then let his arms circle Louis' waist. Niall sidled closer to Liam as they hugged, leaning up to whisper in his ear.

"Do you think those two know they're in love with each other?" Liam stifled a chuckle and squeezed Niall’s shoulder.

"You know, I don't think they do."

"Would it be considered counter-productive if I gave them a little push?"

"For now, yes. We have no idea the extent of the dynamic of their relationship, or indeed our new one with Louis. Leave it for now Ni, and I'll decide if it's good for the team." Niall pouted slightly, but he knew that Liam's logic was sound, as always.

Harry and Louis pulled apart, both letting their fingers remain in contact with the other's body for as long as possible. Then Louis took a step back as Liam led Harry into a large, circular chamber, with a bed and a tv.

“There’s an intercom system here, which Zayn will make two-way and which connects up with the rest of the base. If you need anything, give us a shout.” Harry nodded as Liam stepped back out again, the door sliding closed. Liam punched a few digits into a keypad and there was a small ‘thunk’ as the lock engage.

“Right, Louis. How much do you know about Life Inc?”

“Very little. Only what I’ve learnt in the last few years.”

“Well then that’s a good place to start,” Liam smiled, leading him away from the chamber, and away from Harry.